


Time Capsule: Part 2

by msmichellewinchester



Series: Time Capsule [2]
Category: Pentatonix, Superfruit
Genre: Bad Science, Established Relationship, Future trio, High School Trio, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Scomiche, Time Travel, Weirdness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:02:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21933424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/msmichellewinchester/pseuds/msmichellewinchester
Summary: The Trio comes back to Martin High School not only to meet their past selves, but also to face people they've barely seen since graduation: from their friends from choir to their bullies.For everyone who ever wished the high school trio could see themselves now.
Relationships: Mitch Grassi/Scott Hoying
Series: Time Capsule [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1579495
Comments: 15
Kudos: 46





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a companion story of my other fanfiction Time Capsule. While they both cover approximately the same stretch of time, only from different POVs, it might be necessary to read the first part to understand the relationship dynamics in this part.
> 
> Hope you enjoy this story and Merry Christmas, everyone :).

Mitch bit his lip to suppress a moan that was threatening to slip out. “Scott,” he gasped, digging his fingers into his boyfriend’s back. “We really need to…” His half-whispered sentence ended in a whimper. He shivered when Scott’s teeth gently grazed a sensitive spot on his neck.

“If you leave marks, I’m gonna yell at you in the morning,” Mitch mumbled absent-mindedly, even as he slid his hand up Scott’s back and into his hair, gripping it tightly and pulling his head closer.

Scott chuckled, his breath brushing over the damp spot on Mitch’s neck, but didn’t say anything in response. He was pressing Mitch against the wall with his body and his hands were busy mapping out the bare skin of Mitch’s back under his shirt.

This was hardly an inappropriate area to touch, even with Scott’s fingers dipping slightly under Mitch’s belt. But they were both way too horny to be able to control themselves if they don’t stop soon.

This was the first time in a while that they were able to have a private moment without being dead on their feet. The last three weeks were a whirlwind of private shows, concerts, rehearsals, shooting, interviews and sleeping on the tour bus that offered exactly zero privacy. Not that it mattered, since they were way too exhausted to do anything anyway. If they were staying at a hotel, they would practically pass out into their beds and slept until someone from their team woke them up way too early the next day.

It was a bit better now. The shows weren’t as close to each other and the schedule was more manageable, so their minds turned to needs other than food and sleep. Mitch was getting seriously desperate and if _he_ felt like this, Scott must have been ready to explode.

But this really wasn’t the best time. They were hiding in some sort of alcove meant for storing gym equipment, separated from the public space only by a curtain. Someone could easily hear them or just walk in on them searching for a bathroom or something. And Mitch wasn’t much of an exhibitionist.

He made himself let go of Scott’s hair, ignoring his boyfriend’s sigh of disappointment and placed it lightly against Scott’s chest, not really pushing him away, just placing a boundary between them.

“Ok, ok, Scotty,” he sighed. “We really need to stop.”

Scott buried his nose into Mitch’s neck and grumbled, but his hands stopped moving, resting lightly on Mitch’s back.

“What if they call you first and you have to walk out on the stage with a hard on?” Mitch teased.

“Exactly,” Scott retorted, pulling away to look at Mitch. “The practical thing here would be to get rid of this…” He pressed his obvious erection against Mitch’s stomach. “...very quickly before one of us gets called.”

But he was already visibly trying to calm down. Scott made no jokes about the words “stop” and “no”, not when it came to sex.

Scott sighed and pulled away, sliding his hands to Mitch’s waist. “Alright. Just wait a minute.” He closed his eyes and started mumbling: “Dead kittens, dead puppies, Aveyard in a leotard…”

Mitch shoved him. “You will never let that one go, will you?”

Scott laughed. “What exactly do you expect? You can’t give me ammo and then tell me I’m not allowed to shoot.”

“I was going to take that nightmare to my grave. I only told you because you’re my best friend and I trusted you with it.” Mitch gave him a hurt look.

Scott rolled his eyes. “Quit guilt-tripping me. You told me because you were drunk and you thought it would be funny to mentally scar me. You can’t blame me for making the best out of it.”

“By using it as a cock block material?” Mitch stared at him for a moment and then gave a dramatic sigh. “I mean, sure, whatever. At least my suffering is good for something.”

Scott laughed and pecked him on the lips. “Ok, let’s go back to the others.” He took Mitch’s hand and tucked gently to make Mitch follow him out of the alcove.

“Wait,” Mitch whined, even as he let himself be pulled along. “What if _I’m_ not ready yet?”

“Given how you talk about it, the dream must have been traumatic enough that just mentioning it probably worked better than a bucket of ice.”

Mitch grimaced. “True.”

They disentangled themselves from the curtain just in time to avoid collision with a short man, who looked like he was in his late forties. He wore a long midnight blue evening gown and a pretty high heels that made him stagger around like he was drunk. There were two paper angel wings attached to his back and a plastic halo on a stick bobbing over his head.

He started apologizing frantically as he was trying to untangle the hem of his ball gown from his heels. Then he blinked up at them through thick-rimmed glasses and froze.

“Oh, sweet Jesus!” he exclaimed, his eyes going wide. Then they lit up as his face split in a wide smile. “My apologies, gentlemen. I was hoping I would run into you eventually, but I didn’t expect it to happen in such an awkward manner. Please, excuse my clumsiness.”

“That’s...that’s alright,” Scott managed to force out. “Um...nice dress.”

The man looked flattered. “Oh, thank you. I borrowed it from my wife. My colleague, Mrs. O’Neill, thought I should wear something a little flashier, but I believe that simple elegance goes a long way, don’t you think?”

“Sure,” Mitch said in a conversational tone. He was always better at keeping a straight face than Scott could ever hope to be. It was actually quite ironic. “Are you talking about Rebecca O’Neill, by any chance?”

The man nodded. “Oh, yes. Please, excuse me. I’m used to referring to her by her last name in formal settings.”

Mitch suspected it was her. He knew Rebecca Fleisch, his friend from high school choir, married another choir member Dominic O’Neill about four years ago after her previous marriage went up in flames. The name could hardly be a coincidence. Not to mention there was no one else he knew who would police fifty-year old men on their choice of an evening gown. “If you don’t mind me asking, why does Rebecca think she has the right to comment on your style?”

The man giggled. “Oh dear Lord, this is not quite my style, you see? It’s a costume. In fact, my character is based on you, Mr. Grassi. And it’s her play, after all. She only gave me this role, because I’m the only white man on the staff who can hold a tone and doesn’t object to wearing a ball gown.”

If he was being honest, Mitch was pleasantly surprised there were any.

But the man went on: “You know, Dean...um, Mr. Collins, was supposed to have this role, but he insisted on wearing a party dress. He wanted to show off his legs. I think Rebecca would allow him a high slit, but he started arguing with her and she got angry. So he’s playing you, Mr. Hoying, and has to wear a long coat.”

The man opened his mouth to speak again, but Mitch quickly cleared his throat to stop him. He already felt like his head was going to explode from the information overload and he wasn’t even trying to question anything. This was Rebecca, after all.

“Well, good luck with...um...playing me. I’m sure you’ll be great.” He tried to sound as supportive as he could. He liked the guy and he had compassion for Rebecca’s victims. He reached out his hand, offering a handshake. “And call me Mitch, please. Literally no one calls me by my last name nowadays.”

Some part of him was sure that this was a faux pas, because the man was older and the first move on handshakes and first name basis should go to him, but given the guy’s attitude, Mitch didn’t think it would be that much of a problem.

He was right. The man gave him a wide grin and shook his hand enthusiastically. “In that case, I’m Bob, Bob Simmons. It’s an honor.” He then turned to Scott and shook his hand as well.

Scott accepted it and mumbled his name, looking a little dazed.

They left Bob to his own devices, but not before Mitch made him take off his heels for the time being. He didn’t want the guy to break both his legs before he even gets to the stage.

“Good call,” Scott said, when they left Bob behind. “It’s better if he breaks his legs _on_ the stage. It will give the play more authenticity.”

“Well, if this is how Rebecca imagines I run around in my free time, that play will need it.”

“I know,” Scott agreed. “She should have gone with the Collins guy. You do like to show off your legs.”

Mitch smirked and then mocked a flirty wink. “You’re welcome.”

Scott grinned and leaned closer as they walked, lowering his voice. “I really hope to see them tomorrow, when we get to the hotel. Preferably wrapped up around my neck.”

Mitch gritted his teeth as the notion made his cock stir again. “Oh my God, shut up,” he mumbled, focusing on keeping his body calm. It felt like half of his blood was rushing to his crotch, while the other half went up to his cheeks.

“I’d settle for my hips,” Scott went on in the same tone he might use to talk about the weather, “but I really wanna suck you off. I hope you don’t mind.”

Mitch glared at him. Scott’s mouth was twitching as he was obviously trying not to laugh. Mitch narrowed his eyes. He could play this game too. He gave his boyfriend a sweet smile. “I think I might let you,” he said. He stopped walking and with a quick look around he shoved Scott to the wall. It seemed like no one was looking, so Mitch leaned against Scott, his back pressed to Scott’s chest. To anyone who would look now, it would just look like they’re chilling there, watching the crowd.

Mitch smiled at a pair of women who walked by. They were probably there with someone, because he didn’t recognize them. One of them grinned and waved back, prodding the other and then whispered something to the other. They walked off, looking back over their shoulder and talking excitedly.

Mitch ignored them and leaned his head back, resting it against Scott’s shoulder. “But, you know, I don’t think I’ll be in the mood to come in your mouth,” he said then, his voice just loud enough so Scott could hear him. “I haven’t had you in three weeks. I want you in me,” he whined as he pressed his ass right against Scott’s crotch and wiggled a little.

Scott hissed and one of his hands slid down to grab Mitch’s hip, trying to hold him still.

“So, I think I’m going to lay you down on the couch and then ride you to next week,” Mitch concluded in a breezy tone and pulled away, turning to grin at his boyfriend. “I hope you don’t mind.”

Scott stared at him, his eyes dark. He was breathing a little faster and his lower lip looked a little swollen as if he’d been biting it.

Mitch narrowed his eyes again. Yes, they were both pumped up and he had been trying to push Scott’s buttons, but he didn’t think a little teasing warranted a full on sex face. Before he could voice his suspicion though, Scott interrupted his thoughts with a low moan.

He reached for Mitch and pulled him a little closer, into a loose hug, until his cheek rested against Mitch’s temple. “You can do whatever you want to me, Mitchy,” Scott said. His tone was deep and throaty, but tender. The kind he used when they were wrapped around each other, in the middle of the night and Scott was whispering into his ear while he moved in him.

It made Mitch’s mind go blank and for a minute he completely forgot where they were. He shivered, his body itching closer to the warmth of Scott’s arms. Mitch raised his head, wanting to kiss him, but when he looked into Scott’s eyes, for a split second he noticed a glint of victory in them.

Mitch felt a surge of anger and he clenched his fists, pulling away from Scott. “You fucker,” he growled.

Scott’s face split into a wide grin. He still looked a little flustered, but mostly he just had that annoyingly self-satisfied air about him he got whenever he managed to outsmart Mitch.

Mitch let out a frustrated huff. “No.” He closed his eyes, trying to get his body in check. “No!” he practically yelled and immediately pressed his mouth shut, realizing people were turning to look at them.

Scott’s shoulders were twitching with suppressed laughter.

“Shut up, Karen!” Mitch hissed.

Scott cleared his throat and tried to compose himself, but he wasn’t in a hurry. If Mitch used Scott’s real name, it would be a signal that this went too far. Using a different name was a way to let Scott know that Mitch wasn’t truly upset, just annoyed. That was all Mitch was willing to do to reassure his boyfriend, however.

Damn, he was so sure he could win this time. “I’m really starting to question which one of us should really have ‘actress’ as an occupation on their Twitter profile,” he grumbled.

“Hey, I wasn’t acting,” Scott protested. “Well, not entirely. Besides, you were playing dirty too. I mean, grinding? Really?”

They kept bickering all the way to where their friends were sitting. Mitch was still mildly annoyed, but he just lost the game, he had a right to be moody. He knew Scott would not be bothered if he gave him some attitude now. Hell, he was probably expecting it.

Kirstin looked up when they approached and raised an eyebrow. “I’m not asking. Don’t tell me,” she said. “But you,” she pointed at Mitch, “fix your shirt. And you,” she pointed at Scott, “fix your hair.”

Mitch looked down at his shirt and blushed when he realized that half of it was tucked out of his pants.

Scott was using the screen of his phone to put his hair back into place. “I swear, we were trying to be subtle this time.”

Kirstie rolled her eyes. “You’re about as subtle as the Iron Fleet, whether you’re trying or not.” She grimaced. “Oh, for God’s sake, come here, Scott. You’re making it worse.”

Mitch sat down and looked at the paper Kirstie, Matt and Kevin had been studying. “You’re still trying to figure out the set list?”

“ _Mission Impossible VIII: Our Set List Is Too Awesome_. I’m telling you, that’s gonna be the title of the next movie.” Matt said. For once even he looked like he was drained. “At this point we could easily have ten entirely different set lists and just switch them up.”

“Sure,” Scott retorted. “But for the, like, six extra set lists, you’ll be doing the whole choreo by yourself, because I’ll be sitting in the back, reading the lyrics from my phone. Some of us are getting older and our memory is not what it used to be.”

“ _Your_ memory...” Kirstie said, meticulously putting the last piece of Scott’s hair to its proper place… “is exactly what it’s always been. But I’m all for Matt doing the choreo by himself. Actually, you know what? If you borrow Kevin’s looper, you could do the entire concert by yourself. We’ll call it Matt Sallee Special.” She grinned at him.

Matt laughed. “I couldn’t do that to you guys. I’m a team player. I couldn’t throw you under the bus like that.”

“That’s very generous of you,” Mitch said absent-mindedly as he studied the set list. He wasn’t sure what he hoped to find there. It wasn’t like he hadn’t gone through it a thousand times already. “It should be one of the covers,” he said, going back to the original topic. “We’re already doing more covers for the set list than we planned.”

Kirstie sighed. “And we’ve been through this. The set list is still the same Mitch. What do you wanna throw out? We‘re already down to three slots for the new covers and people still want to hear those.”

Mitch still thought giving up one more new cover slot would not hurt anything. They had to switch them up anyway and they have been planning to slowly sway the balance between their covers and original songs. But now was probably the worst time to open this topic. There were several other people that should be present for this type of conversation.

“Alright, I give up,” Mitch said. “We’ll release the music video for the new song and wait for reactions. That might give us some tips.”

“Ok, that gives us one more week to be able to pretend we can’t make a decision,” Kirstie said cheerfully.

“We’re not pretending,” Scott said. “We suck at kicking songs out. What we’re great at, on the other hand, is pulling out ancient arrangements that I have long successfully forgot from the ashes of history and insisting on putting them into the new set list.”

Kirstie gave him a disbelieving look. “The Throwback Medley was _your_ idea.”

Scott nodded. “Exactly. Why didn’t you stop me?”

Kevin laughed. “Dude, you’re the only one who’s complaining about it. The Throwback Medley was probably the only thing that we haven’t even considered taking out. If anything, we might just add one of the old covers to it and it would give us a free spot.”

“Which one?” Kirstie asked dryly and the argument started anew.

While Kirstin, Scott and Kevin were discussing which song has a bigger emotional impact, Hallelujah or Imagine, Mitch took out his phone and opened the sheet for one of the songs they wanted to do today and slowly went through his part, to make sure he remembered everything, humming under his breath whenever he ran into a more complex part.

Scott sat down next to him after a while, though he was still deep in conversation with Kevin and Kirstie, and Mitch automatically leaned into him, resting his back against Scott’s arm.

He barely read through the New Rules mashup, before he was brought out of it when he heard Scott mention Rebecca’s name.

“...I’m not sure what she’s planning, but if we’re going after her stage time, it might be interesting.”

“Maybe she’s doing Rocky Horror Picture Show or something,” Kirstie suggested.

Mitch rolled his eyes. “Unless she decided to change Dr. Frank N. Furter’s name to Mitch Grassi, I doubt that.” He was about to theorize what kind of costume Rebecca could come up for Kirstie’s character to tease her a little, but he was interrupted by Scott who groaned and nodded towards a group of people not that far from them.

“I guess this is supposed to be me,” Scott muttered to Mitch.

Mitch spotted Bob in the group, but the man Scott was indicating was impossible to miss at the moment. He was standing on top of his seat, wearing a long black open coat. He was holding its lappels in his hands, waving it dramatically in the air like wings. Then he gestured towards one of the girls in the group as if he was trying to jinx her and did a very long and very dirty vocal run. It was clear the guy wasn’t trained, but that was hardly the point.

The girl he gestured at flapped her arms and started running around in circles until she suddenly stopped, grabbed her chest and fell to the ground. The group laughed and applauded while the guy bowed.

Kevin was choking with laughter, almost falling out of his seat in the process.

Matt nodded appreciatively, grinning at Scott. “That wasn’t bad,” he said and then snorted loudly when he couldn’t hold back a laugh.

Scott rolled his eyes. “Yeah. I’m gonna resign.”

“Well, half the reactors do that same thing as the girl when you do a run,” Mitch said teasingly. “The flapping was pretty accurate.”

“They usually don’t die at the end though,” Kirstie pointed out and gave Scott a sweet smile. “Clearly you should practise more.”

She shrieked and jumped up when Scott reached for her, trying to tickle her stomach.

Scott got up and pointed at her dramatically. “You can’t run away from me.”

She made a move to the left, making a few steps before Scott aimed both his hands at her and did a vocal run, repeating almost exactly what the guy did only faster and much smoother, adding a bit more to it at the end.

Kirstie froze mid step and then flapped her arms and started running around. She ended her little act by grabbing her chest and falling across Matt’s lap, pressing the back of her hand to her forehead in a theatrical gesture. “Oh, woe is me. My death came too soon. Goodbye, cruel world.” She let her hand fall and let out a grunt as she slackened in Matt’s lap, pretending to die.

Kevin was wheezing.

Mitch gave Kirstie a thoughtful look. “She died pretty slowly. I think the run might have been too clean.”

He almost didn’t notice that the group they were watching earlier was now turned towards them, cheering. When he finally looked at them, it was just in time for him to see a tall dark-haired woman walking towards them with a wide grin on her face. Rebecca.

As she came closer, her step faltered for a second and the grin died down a bit. Mitch was just starting to wonder what was happening when she almost ran the last few feet and then threw her arms around Scott.

When she pulled away and turned to Mitch, he saw her eyes were full of tears. She hugged him too and then draped herself over Kirstie, who was still sprawled over Matt. Kirstie protested and tried to shove her off, which resulted in both of them falling to the ground, laughing.

Rebecca was wiping her tears as she looked up at Matt. “Hi, I’m Rebecca. I should have probably introduced myself before I threw myself at you.”

He laughed and shook her hand. “Well, you revived Kirstie, so it’s ok. I’m eternally grateful. Based on the conversation we just had, they would try to give her parts to me and I’m afraid my whistle is a bit rusty.”

Rebecca shook hands with Kevin too, though introductions weren’t necessary. They’d only met briefly a few years ago when she came to their show in Dallas, but Rebecca was not a person one would easily forget.

“Bob said he ran into you,” Rebecca said looking at Mitch. “Well, _ran_ might be strong word, considering. I usually do the play with my students, obviously, but kids aren’t allowed here, so I had to resort to desperate measures.”

Mitch felt a strong need to defend the guy. “Bob is cool. I’m sure he’ll do me justice. But now that you mention the play...we have questions.”

“A lot of questions,” Scott confirmed. “One of them being: _What the hell?!_ ”

Rebecca winced. “I know. I promise I’ll coach Dean on the runs. To his defense though, he’s usually better than this. He’s probably just nervous.”

Scott stared at her his mouth actually hanging open, at a loss of words. “Yes, that was 100% what I meant,” he said finally with an incredulous look.

The innocent expression on Rebecca’s face was almost convincing. She made a mistake when she looked at Mitch, clearly intending to try and fool him too. But where Scott, in his kindness, could sometimes be powerless against such a blatant insolence, Mitch was a much tougher opponent.

He narrowed his eyes at her, holding her gaze. He didn’t say anything, didn’t have to. His glare was enough to make her squirm and finally give up.

“Damn, you’re good, Grassi,” she mumbled petulantly.

Mitch raised an eyebrow. “Thank you. Now, Scott asked you something.”

“Yeah, he asked _‘what the hell’_. That’s a pretty broad question.”

Mitch waited.

Rebecca sighed and rolled her eyes. “You’re no fun, you know that?”

“I would be plenty fun if you didn’t try to fuck with us, _you_ know that.” If this was any other person, Mitch would probably have more patience with them, but Rebecca had a way of getting under people’s skin.

She snorted. “If I didn’t try to fuck with Scott you mean.”

“If you’re trying to change the topic, you know I won’t let you. I have nothing against creative outlets, but if I’m going to run into middle-aged men in ball gowns who claim to be me, I’d prefer to be warned first. I can’t let anyone outdress me.”

“Jeez, Grassi. You’re so prickly, one would think you need to get laid.”

Before Mitch could snap at her, Scott actually jumped in, his voice firm. Even he had a limit. “Ok, that’s enough. This is ridiculous, Rebecca and you know it. You were asking for Mitch telling you off. And if you really want to know, Mitch does need to get laid - we all do, in fact, thank you very much - but that has absolutely nothing to do with you being a jerk.”

Rebecca clearly realized she crossed the line. She sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. We’re all on edge, I guess. And unlike the guys out there,” she gestured towards the curtain, “we hardly have anything to lose. But imagine poor Katie McKinney, for example. No one will tell her why her future self didn’t show up, but it’s not like there’s that many options. And she’s an anxious teenager, she’ll probably assume the worse anyway.”

Mitch winced. Katie McKinney died in a car crash about seven years ago. She was about to get married. It happened when Pentatonix was on tour and Mitch only found out about it three months later when he went to Arlington to visit his family.

“I wrote the play after she died.” She grimaced. “I remembered. When I heard what happened, I remembered a part of what happened here, in the capsule. That her future self wasn’t here and that they had to walk her out of the gym early, because she had a mental breakdown about it.”

Mitch nodded. He had flashes like this too, occasionally. Usually after the fact, so it was never really useful. And a lot of times he wasn’t quite sure if it was a flash of the capsule or just deja vu.

“I was so mad. I didn’t even know her that well, but it kind of gave me an existential crisis. Like, what’s the fucking point of anything if our lives are predetermined?” She pressed her lips together and then set her jaw. “But then I thought that maybe it’s not. If we get these glimpses, these hunches based on what we saw, maybe those are leading us towards the future that we saw.”

It was definitely better to believe that. Mitch didn’t want to think about anything being predetermined and he didn’t want to imagine the nihilism such a belief could throw him into. Not to mention that him being influenced by the capsule would make sense of certain moments in his life. Like the fact he didn’t even think twice when Scott called him all those years ago with the absurd idea of trying for a TV competition with a newly formed a cappella group whose first performance together would be at the audition. Awesome idea. Why not miss graduation for it?

What kind of questionable thought process would get him to jump at this with no questions asked? Especially since he’d always been so careful about everything else in his life?

“If that was the case, we could change things,” Rebecca went on. “It would be difficult, since we don’t really remember what happened there, but it could be at least possible. So I wrote a play about it. By then they pretty much shut this program and thank God they did, but everyone heard stories about these things, so the play is still pretty popular in my school.”

“That’s awesome,” Scott said, giving Rebecca a small smile. “But I still don’t get what it has to do with us. Why am I killing people with my runs?”

“Because you’re a superhero,” Rebecca said as if that was the most logical explanation under the sun.

Scott gave a short laugh. “Oh, right, of course! That explains everything. How did I not think of that?”

Mitch looked at him warily. He knew that laugh, since he’s been on a receiving end of it quite a few times. It meant Scott was getting annoyed. So he interfered before Rebecca could make it worse. “Rebecca, this is the last fucking time I’m asking. Why are we in the play?”

She pursed her lips, but gave up. “You won your first Grammy that year.” She shrugged, sounding a little helpless. “It’s not like I didn’t always know you were insanely talented. I was at fucking awe with you even back in high school, alright? And then you went and took on the world and made it. A Grammy! I was so proud of you.” She abruptly stopped herself when her voice broke.

Mitch’s anger towards her softened and he wanted to thank her or hug her, but he knew she wouldn’t appreciate it right now.

She cleared her throat. “Anyway, writing that play was kind of depressing, because it was all about Katie and because of that, whatever ending I wrote was just horrible. I needed something positive. And I thought Mitch Grassi in a ball gown might just do it.” She raised her hands in a defensive gesture when she saw Mitch’s look. “Relax, Jesus. I’m talking, aren’t I?”

Mitch mostly did it for good measure anyway, so he nodded.

“There’s not much else,” Rebecca went on. “I thought of you and just let my mind run with it. I don’t have to explain creative process to you of all people. Besides, you’re not the main characters anyway.”

“Is Katie?” Kistie asked softly.

Rebecca shook her head. “No. That would be too fucking dark. I know I can be an annoying little shit, but I’m not that insensitive. And I wanted the play to be fun.”

“In that case, you might consider telling Bob to go barefoot,” Scott said. The tension around his mouth subsided and he looked like he was satisfied with Rebecca’s explanation. “The saying ‘break a leg’ is not supposed to be taken literally and I doubt it would be much fun.”

Rebecca sighed. “I tried to give him normal shoes, trust me. You know, one would think directing adults would be much easier than directing a bunch of teenagers. But no, it’s actually worse. Bob wanted to be _authentic_.” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. “I’m honestly glad he can hit some high notes naturally, because I don’t want to think what other things he might have done in the name of authenticity if he couldn’t.”

“Tell him it’s purely practical,” Kirstie suggested. “Mitch has a giant for a boyfriend. It’s about easy access.”

“Tell him that otherwise I like to feel connected to Mother Earth or some shit like that,” Mitch added.

Rebecca snorted but shook her head. “He’s been a fan of Pentatonix and Superfruit for years. He’s not gonna believe that…”

Their conversation was cut off by Mr. Davidson who asked everyone for silence and then briefly explained what was going to happen.

“What if you miss your name?” Matt asked when Mr. Davidson explained they would have to pay attention to who he was calling. “They really want to risk someone suffering from an emotional trauma, because they can’t do things in alphabetical order?”

“They’re doing this whole thing in the first place,” Kevin said. “I doubt they care much about people suffering emotional trauma.”

When Mr. Davidson finally announced the first name, Rebecca stood up. “Alright, I’ll leave you to it. I need to make sure everyone is ready and try to talk Bob out of the heels again.”

“Break a leg,” Mitch said with only a small trace of sarcasm in his voice.

Rebecca smiled. “I will not be passing that to Bob.”


	2. Chapter 2

Kirstin wished this was over. She had already warmed up her voice before they started talking about the set list for about a hundredth time this week and she didn’t particularly want to do it again.

The trio was planning to spend the afternoon in one hotel room, order pizza and watch a movie. Their first free afternoon in a while and they had to spend it here. To be completely honest, if they ended up relaxing in the hotel room, she expected to be rushed out of Scott’s and Mitch’s room once the pizza was eaten, whether the movie ended or not. She was actually surprised they even agreed to hang out. She’d rather thought they would shut themselves in their room, not to be seen again in the next two days.

But these days, they were at least trying to pretend they were coming down from the honeymoon phase. The fact that they were failing miserably was beside the point. She appreciated the effort.

They were worried about her feeling left out, now that they were a couple, Scott told her as much. But it wasn’t like it was that different from when they were just friends. Literally the only difference between then and now was that now they were actually having sex instead of only joking about it and teasing each other. She was happy for them and she appreciated the friendship she had with each of them.

She sighed and looked around. Matt and Kevin were talking about a rhythmic section for one of the new songs they started arranging on the tour bus last week and Scott and Mitch were bent over Scott’s phone, probably watching a video.

For a little while, she tried to pay attention to what was going on outside, but it wasn’t very interesting. The people she wanted to know about, she mostly already knew about. Keeping in touch wasn’t easy when you didn’t live in Texas and weren’t even home in L. A. for at least half of the year, but she managed. Thank God for modern technology.

She got up and told the guys she was going to stretch her legs and maybe find Abby, one of her close friends from school.

She wandered off, occasionally stopping to say hi, but she didn’t see anyone she would want to talk to at length, so she eventually ended up at the snack table. There was only one other person there, a tall man in a worn out black jacket.

She looked around, trying to decide what she wanted to eat, when the man made two steps back and ran straight into her, making her stumble.

He whirled around, already apologizing frantically. It was only when he actually took a look at her when he stopped abruptly, his mouth open, his cheeks and the tips of his ears turning bright red.

She had to fight back a laugh when she recognized him. His reaction helped, because this was often how he reacted to her back in high school.

“Hi, Ben,” she said brightly smiling up at him. “Hungry?”

He looked surprised for a moment and then he gave her a soft smile. “Hello, Kirstie. How are you?”

She shrugged. “I could use some sleep and just relax for a few days, but that comes with the job, so I’m not really complaining. Well, ok, I am, but only a little.” She remembered he never appreciated the kind of noncommittal, vague answers that you only say to be polite. “How are you?”

She was genuinely interested in the answer. As much as she prided herself on keeping in touch with almost everyone she wanted to, Ben was one of the people that managed to escape her. He didn’t seem to have social media and when she asked people at home, all anyone could really tell her was that he went to Princeton after graduation and never came back. His parents moved away shortly after he graduated, apparently, so he didn’t really have a reason to.

He scratched his head. “Good, but it’s all a bit disorienting. All the people. I only came back to the US three weeks ago. I barely had time to get used to it before I was called here.”

“Oh, you were abroad?” she asked. That would make sense.

“Siberia, broadly speaking,” Ben said. He seemed a bit more relaxed now, but his ears were still red and he had trouble keeping eye contact with her. She knew he used to have a bit of a crush on her back in high school, so maybe it was because of that? And he was always a very shy boy.

It had taken her a few weeks to get him to talk to her after they started sitting together in class. When Scott or Mitch stopped by though, he reverted back to his shell. She once asked him why he seemed so scared to talk to the guys. He just asked her if she knew they were popular at school. Which, of course she did, but she wasn’t sure why he was bringing that up. She was popular too, after all. When she asked him, he just shook his head and opened his book.

She went back to reality, realizing what he actually said. “Siberia? What were you doing there?”

“Studying animals,” he answered.

Kirstin immediately pricked her ears. “Animals? Which species?”

He laughed at her excitement. He knew very well how much she loved animals. It was the main subject they used to talk about. “Predators for the most part. Foxes, bears, wolves, tigers and so on. Occasionally birds when my colleague had to leave for a few weeks here and there.”

It turned out Ben had left the US to study abroad right after finishing Princeton undergraduate program and then spent most of his time in Siberia, only occasionally traveling to Moscow.

Ben lit up when he was talking about his job and for once didn’t seem nervous at all. It was only after he described a three-month ordeal of trying to get a clear footage of one of the tigers they tracked that he seemed to realize where he was and who he was talking to. He immediately turned red again.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he stammered. “I must be boring you. I…” He stopped abruptly, staring at her as if he’d never seen her before. “Oh,” he mumbled, “it’s your lips.”

Kirstie’s eyebrows shot up and she snorted. “What?”

Ben looked mortified. “I mean...oh God. I’m so sorry. I was thinking out loud. I got into the habit in Siberia. Oftentimes it was the only form of communication I got and...um...” he trailed off looking very extremely embarrassed.

Kirstin waited.

“I just noticed there was something different about you. I mean, you’re older, obviously…” He stopped again, realizing what he said.

Kirstie decided to tease him a little. She knew he was nervous, but she also knew sensitive approach would only make it worse. “Oh, you think I look old?”

He opened his mouth to answer, but then he paused and squinted at her suspiciously. “I can’t win this argument, can I?”

She pouted. “Come on. You’re not even gonna try?”

“What would be the point?”

“My amusement?” She gave him a cheeky grin.

“You’ve changed,” Ben said softly. He was looking at her thoughtfully.

She laughed. “Yes, we’ve established I got older. _Obviously_.” But she knew what he meant. “That’s supposed to be a bad thing, isn’t it? Like, generally. It’s always ‘you haven’t changed’ that’s cheerful and positive, but when people say ‘you’ve changed’, they are usually disappointed.” She wasn’t upset, but this did make her a little sad. It reminded her of Jeremy, the way he said this to her and how it hurt. She had gotten over it for the most part and she had her very own Ben back at home now. A man who wasn’t intimidated by her new found confidence and supported her without trying to steer her in a certain direction. But it was still difficult to forget some things people said to her.

“I’m not disappointed,” this Ben said, blushing.

“Not even about the lips?” she asked teasingly. She was keeping it light, but she was wary about his answer. If he were to judge her, she would just leave. Her line of work meant she had to deal with a lot of judgment, but if she could ignore it, she would.

To her relief, Ben laughed and shook his head. “No. It makes you look...fierce.”

She let out a surprised chuckle. “Fierce?” People called her a lot of things, but “fierce” usually wasn’t one of them.

“Yes. I’m honestly surprised I’m able to talk to you. People like you usually intimidate me too much. But you were always nice to me, so…” He trailed off and his eyes slid to the side as if he was looking for a way out.

But Kirstin wasn’t about to let him run away. His shyness was always more of a challenge to her than a hint to stay away. She knew he was smart and could be funny and kind and genuinely interested in other people when someone got him to talk.

She decided to carry on with the conversation. There was something she always wanted to ask him anyway. Well, ask him and get him to actually answer her this time. “So what about Scott and Mitch then? Is that why you never said a word to them?”

He blinked, probably surprised by the sudden change of topic. “You’re still friends with them?”

She frowned. It seemed like he was simply asking out of curiosity, but she wondered if, for some reason, he hoped she wouldn’t be. Not to mention, it was a strange thing to ask, considering they were in the same band and kind of inseparable.

But Ben was never really into popular culture. And she doubted he had much contact with their classmates after they graduated. So it was possible he didn’t know. It would be better to count on that.

“Ben, I asked you a question, I’m not going to let you get out of it again,” she said firmly. She hoped she didn’t sound angry. The thought of him possibly disliking her best friends was enough to send her on defense, but it was really just that: a thought. So she held back.

He had the decency to look ashamed. “Sorry. It’s just...this is not exactly an easy topic for me, you know. Reasons why I don’t talk to certain people. Or, you know...people in general.” He smiled slightly and shook his head. “I remember that you asked me before. I didn’t really know back then.”

“Do you know now?” she asked softly. She regretted pushing him so hard, but he seemed actually willing to answer and she didn’t want to sidetrack him by apologies.

He shrugged. “I had a lot time to think lately. I know myself a bit better. I guess it just had to do with the popularity, really. With Mitch, well, I was intimidated by him, that’s for sure.” Ben laughed again. “He always had that look, you know. Like he knows more than you. Like he knows what you’re gonna say before you say it and he’s already preventively unimpressed.”

Kirstin snorted. “Preventively unimpressed! Please, tell him that. Or let me tell him. He’ll put that on his gravestone.”

Ben gave her a dubious look.

“Oh, come on, you don’t think he really is like that, do you?” she said. “He might have a bit of a resting bitch face, but he’s the least judgmental person I know. Maybe with the exception of Scott.” She shook her head. “Well, I guess I’m more confused about you not talking to Scott. I know Mitch can be a bit intimidating sometimes, if you’re not used to him, but Scott is a fluffy bunny.”

Ben looked unconvinced. “From what I remember, he was a six-feet tall, butch, basketball-playing fluffy bunny, who would tower over our seats with an ominous, silent stare.”

Kirstie burst out laughing. “I didn’t think I would ever meet anyone as dramatic as Mitch “Preventively Unimpressed” Grassi and Scott “Ominous Fluffy Bunny” Hoying, but seriously, you’re giving them a run for their money. And he was only silent, because he wasn’t sure what to say to you. He thought you didn’t like him.”

Before Ben could answer, however, there was a bit of a commotion at the curtain that made almost everyone turn their heads in that direction.

“Oh no,” Kirstie moaned. “Rebecca’s Ein Kessel Buntes.”

“Rebecca’s what?” Ben asked, looking bewildered.

Kirstie waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, that was a TV show in East Germany in the 70’s and 80’s. Our guide showed us some of it when we were in Cologne a few years ago. Pretty hilarious.” But in her mind, she was already halfway back to her friends. She grabbed Ben’s sleeve and tugged. “Come on!”

Ben looked extremely confused, but he followed her. She had seen the guys by the curtain before Rebecca and her crew obscured her view. They successfully got past the crowded area when Kirstie noticed that Ben is not following her anymore. She looked back.

He stood only a few feet behind her, but he was looking past her, hesitant look on his face. “Um, is that… That’s Scott.”

Kirstie rolled her eyes. “Yes, it is. Come on, I promise, he’s not gonna bite you. This is not Monty Python.”

Ben didn’t really look reassured, but he slowly followed her.

The guys were peeking out to see what was going on on the stage and did not see them approach.

“You realize the whole crew is still here?” Kirstie asked, mostly to get their attention.

“We’re trying to see where we’re sitting,” Scott replied, without even turning in her direction.

Kirstie rolled her eyes. “Why?”

She could see Scott’s shoulders tense and then he finally turned to her, a thoughtful expression on his face. “I actually don’t know,” he said as if it was a surprise to him. Then he noticed Ben. “Um, hi.” He hesitated, clearly taking a moment to identify him. “Wilson, right?”

“Yes,” Ben said, looking like he’s desperate to disappear. “Hi.”

Kirstie frowned and looked at Scott. No matter how much she tried, she didn’t see anything even remotely scary about him. He was basically a human puppy. She tried to look at him through strangers eyes and though he was tall and the hoodie he was wearing made him look pretty buff, his eyes were kind and the beard softened his prominent chin and with it his facial features in general.

But before she could try to reassure Ben again, Mitch, Kevin and Matt turned to them too and Kirstie could only guess what Ben saw there.

If Ben described Kirstie as fierce, Mitch probably looked like he could scorch him with one glance. As for Kevin, he was just standing there, mildly curious, but if Ben interpreted Scott’s nervousness in high school as intimidating, Kevin’s stoic expression might scare him to death. Matt was smiling, as always, but who the hell knew what Ben saw in that.

How could someone who studied animal behavior misinterpret people like this?

“Ok, that’s enough,” she said when Ben took a step back just as Mitch stepped forward to greet him. “Ben, it’s Mitch, not a mountain lion, for God’s sake.”

But Mitch raised his hand to stop her, his expression mild. “Don’t push him, you’re gonna make it worse.”

Ben shot him a surprised look and exhaled, part of the tension running out of him. Kirstie didn’t even notice how labored his breathing had become before and she was ashamed of herself. After years of trying to be there for Mitch in times his anxiety got the better of him, she should have recognized the symptoms.

“It’s ok,” Ben said, still sounding a little freaked out, but firm enough. “I met mountain lions. I can handle a little human interaction.” He chuckled, though it sounded a little weak, more like nerves than humor.

“I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but I’d take a mountain lion over a bunch of strangers any day,” Mitch quipped in.

“Granted,” Scott said, “Mitch is basically a cat, so mountain lions are family to him.”

“Right, and you’re a fluffy bunny,” Ben murmured to himself and immediately went red. Kirstie could bet he did not intend on saying it outloud.

Scott burst out laughing. “Sure, you can call me whatever you want, honey,” he said with an exaggerated wink, which earned him a firm nudge to the ribs from Mitch.

“Don’t get his hopes up, _moon pie_ ,” Mitch said sarcastically. “Cats are territorial.”

Matt sighed and rolled his eyes, stepping forward. “Seriously, where are your manners?” He offered Ben his hand. “Hi, I’m Matt.”

“If we’re doing spirit animals, he’s a puppy,” Kevin said, shaking Ben’s hand too. “I’m Kevin.”

“Yeah. He’s a woodpecker,” Matt added before Kevin could come up with his own animal.

Scott snickered.

Kirstie gave him a disbelieving look. “What are you, five?”

“I’ll have you know that’s like fifty in bunny years. I am a wise old rabbit that all the other rabbits come for advice to.”

Mitch, Kevin and Matt exchanged a look and started laughing.

Kirstie sighed and turned to Ben. “I am _so_ sorry,” she said emphatically. But she also noted that Ben looked a lot more relaxed now, even smiling slightly.

“I am sorry too,” Mitch said. “For the rabbits,” he clarified and dodged Scott’s swipe.

Ben now had a broad smile on his face as he looked at Kirstie. “You were right,” he said simply. He didn’t need to elaborate. Then he turned back to the guys and nodded to them. “It’s good to see you. And good meeting you, Matt and Kevin.”

Matt grinned and gestured at Ben. “See?” he said, looking at Scott and Mitch. “This is what I call manners.”

“I don’t know what your sudden obsession with manners is about,” Mitch said. “You greeted Michelle Obama with ‘what’s up’. And I thanked God you didn’t crown it with ‘dude’.”

Matt waved his hands. “Okay, okay, that was _not_ my fault though!” he told Ben who looked bewildered. “I was talking to one of the college kids, I wasn’t paying attention. And then this guy,” he pointed at Kevin, “poked me and said ‘say hi, Matt’. No warning, nothing. No ‘say hi to Michelle freaking Obama, Matt’. So I just said it, before I even realized who I was talking to.”

As he was talking though, Kirstie noticed a flutter of movement from Rebecca’s crew. “Look, it’s starting!”

The guys immediately turned back to the curtain. Kirstie cleared her throat. Without looking away from the stage, Mitch and Kevin moved a little away from each other so Kirstin could slip between them to the front.

“Um, what exactly is going on?” she heard Ben ask, but she was too busy watching, not to mention he was still standing behind her friends.

Thankfully, Matt offered Ben a short explanation, which probably left Ben even more confused though, since it required the context of their job and their relationship with Rebecca. Ben had little idea about either of those things and Matt didn’t really know who Rebecca was up until about an hour ago.

It turned out Rebecca wasn’t lying when she said the play wasn’t really about them. Their ridiculous counterparts didn’t appear until the very end of the play.

“Oh, good, Bob is barefoot,” Mitch said, when the man ran up to the stage, the paper wings on his back flailing wildly from side to side.

Mitch was, however, the only person who was still able to speak at this point. Kevin lost it first leaning heavily on Mitch and Kirstie and howling right into their ears. Scott was trying to cheer on his counterpart while laughing so much he choked on his own spit and started coughing violently. Kirstie herself was shaking as she tried to stand upright to support Kevin. It turned out the Kirstin in the play used her whistle notes to attract animals, except the woman who played Kirstin probably didn’t know how to sing in whistle and so she had an actual whistle in her mouth.

It was an absolute trainwreck. And it was hilarious.

Kirstin caught sight of Rebecca’s husband Dominic peeking out through another gap in the curtain. As if he sensed her eyes on him, he glanced in her direction and she waved at him to come over.

Dominic’s face immediately lit up with recognition and he walked over to them. Scott greeted him with a nod and a clap on the back and stepped slightly back so Dominic could see through the gap in the curtain too.

“It’s good to see you, guys,” Dominic said and gave Kirstie a gentle, friendly nudge. “I mean the real you. After all the rehearsals Becca staged in our house in the last month, I was starting to forget what you actually looked like and instead imagined you as those knuckleheads.” He motioned towards the stage.

Scott groaned. “Next time, use Google. Or text me and I’ll send you signed pictures. I will even personally buy you frames, so you can put the on the wall in your bedroom.”

“Absolutely not,” Dominic retorted. “Maybe Kirstie and Mitch. Your picture stays out of there.” He grimaced. “Becca likes baritones and I don’t need the competition.”

Scott shrugged. “I’m spoken for anyway. Just don’t put me in the closet. That would be way too ironic. Kitchen would be perfect though.”

Dominic turned his head to look at him for a moment and then grinned. “Dude, you have no idea how much I missed you.”

Scott smiled back, looking a bit sheepish. “I know, sorry. Next time we’re around, you and Becca get a backstage pass. You just need to let us know in advance.” He frowned then, trying to look over Dominic’s head. “Wait, is it over?”

“Yeah,” Kirstie said and kept herself from rolling her eyes. Did Scott ever paid attention? “They’re arguing about Avi now.”

As Scott and Dominic fell back into conversation, Kirstie felt a light touch on her shoulder.

“Kirstie,” she head Ben’s voice close by her right ear, “I’m afraid I have absolutely no idea what’s going on.”

She turned to look at him only to see him give her an apologetic smile. She glanced at her friends, who seemed occupied with whatever was going on on the stage, talking quietly among themselves. She guessed this was as good time to have this conversation with Ben as ever, so she pulled him slightly away from the group.

“Um, ok,” she said then and trailed off. She realized she had no idea how to start. As conceited as it sounded, she rarely ever had to explain this to anyone. Not because everyone knew who she was, but because strangers rarely asked about her job and if they did, they didn’t really go into detail. On the rare occasion she met someone who didn’t know her and she wanted to get to know them better, she didn’t really get to the detailed part. She would tell them she’s a singer when they would first talk and by the next meeting, they would have already Googled her or more often found out from mutual friends.

Thankfully, Ben decided to direct her with a question. “You met Michelle Obama?”

She laughed. “Yes, a few times. She’s awesome. I mean, I don’t really know her well or anything. Just...socially, I guess.”

Ben nodded stiffly. “Sure. Socially,” he said with a slightly stunned look. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He was still for a moment, clearly trying to think. Finally, he looked up gave her a wry smile. “Let me guess: This is the kind of situation where you’re a famous singer and I should have known the whole time.”

Ben wasn’t stupid. He probably just put two and two together based on the data he had and formed a theory. True scientist. She smiled. “How d’you figure?”

He shook his head. “There’s way too many things. You were planning to study music, you practically sang your way through high school, anyway, and you were always amazing.” He blushed slightly, but went on: “I guess it’s not much to go by, but you met Michelle Obama on a few occasions, so there’s that.”

“Doesn’t mean I’m famous,” Kirstie pointed out.

He frowned. “I would need more time to work that out and form a solid theory and we could save a lot of time if you just tell me.”

She raised her hands placatingly. “I know. I’m sorry. I’m just not sure where to start exactly. Or how to say ‘I’m a relatively well-known singer’ without sounding like an asshole.”

Ben laughed. “‘I’m a relatively well-known singer’ sounds like ‘I have ten Tony Awards, millions upon millions of fans and I’m on TV like every week, but I don’t want to be an asshole about it’.”

“Ok, let’s start with that,” she said with a nervous laugh and started counting on her fingers. “I’m definitely not on TV every week. We’re featured sometimes, but we’re not exactly focused on this type of media. Um...and by we, I mean myself, Scott, Mitch, Matt and Kevin. We’re a band. A vocal group to be exact. I should have probably led with that.”

Ben lightened up. “A vocal band with Mitch and Scott. It does make sense. So it’s kind of like The Trio?”

She gave him a relieved smile. “Kind of. Only there’s five of us now, so it’s not The Trio. It’s Pentatonix.”

“Ok. And the Tony Awards?” he paused and frowned. “Wait, no. If you’re in a band, that probably means you don’t get those, right? Unless you were on Broadway.”

“I’m actually surprised you know what a Tony is,” Kirstie teased. “And I was on Broadway, but only as a side-project and no Tony‘s.”

“An oversight, if you ask me,” Ben retorted.

Kirstie gave him a bright smile. It wasn’t often that Ben got this comfortable with someone and she was glad he did with her.

And as much as she didn’t want to brag, her excitement got better of her. “I got some Grammy‘s if that helps,” she said.

He stared at her. “You’re joking? How many?”

She laughed and shook her head. “Five. Crazy, right?”

“No, it’s not,” Ben said, smiling.

She shrugged, suddenly feeling the urge to try and play it down. “It was for the whole group though, so…”

He shoved her lightly and laughed. “So it’s yours too,” he finished for her. “No one’s going to accuse you of being an asshole because you’re happy you were recognized for your talent.”

She gave him a dry smile. “Have you ever been on the internet?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Ok, no one sane is going to accuse you of being an asshole.”

Kirstin looked at him for a moment, trying to figure out why she hadn’t tried harder to keep in contact with him. She definitely needed to fix that.

“Where are you going to go now?” she asked, changing the topic. “Are you staying in the US, or is it going to be some other remote wilderness next?”

“I’m staying for now,” he replied. “I got a job at the Smithsonian, but I’m staying in Arlington for now before they tell me where exactly they’ll need me.”

A thought came to her mind. “When do they tell you?”

“Maybe next week,” he said.

“So you have a week off. Any chance you could meet up with me and the guys? I don’t want to loose contact with you again.“

Well, she clearly caught him by surprise. He stared at her, with his mouth literally hanging open. His face was beat red. It took a second before he regained enough composure to close his mouth. “I...I mean…sure.”

His expression made her clarify: “I’m not asking you out or anything. I have a boyfriend. But I would love to keep in touch with you as a friend.“

He blushed even more and looked down.

“You know,” she said after a while, trying to lighten the mood, “you make a tough case. If we‘re not enough for you, I guess I could try to invite Michelle Obama.” She knew he was probably embarrassed that she called him out on his crush.

He let out a startled laugh. “That’s ok,” he said then, sounding out of breath. “You know, with all the celebrities asking me to hang out with them all the time, I need to draw a line somewhere.”

She narrowed her eyes, feigning suspicion. “Wait, what celebrities? Did Scott ask you out or something?” she teased.

He rolled his eyes and finally seemed to relax. “Yes. Scott and Mitch and Justin Bieber too, just last week. I had to say no, unfortunately, I already had a date with Zendaya.”

“Well, it’s good you did say no. Justin Bieber is married, so there’s your line.“

He stared at he in shock. “Justin Bieber is married?!”

Kirstin laughed. “You really were in Siberia, weren’t you?”

Ben smiled at her, finally looking relaxed again. “I obviously missed a lot. Maybe you guys can fill me in later this week.“


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your patience. This is the second to last chapter of this story and I'm already working on chapter 4. I'm not promising anything other than it will be finished, I've learned my lesson :D. Next chapter, we'll get some Jasper, some Taylor and some stage time.
> 
> I hope y'all are safe and healthy.

“When are you going to propose?”

Scott jumped in his seat, startled by the voice. He looked up and upon seeing who it was, he rolled his eyes. “I’m not telling you anything, ever, Simon.”

He was sitting a bit away from the rest of the group. They were talking to Rebecca again and though Scott did congratulate her for the play, he was still a bit annoyed with her and didn’t want to sour the mood.

Simon Harwick pouted and sat down next to him. “Oh, come on. It’s all off record. I’m not going to leak anything. And theoretically, I’m not jealous anymore, so I won’t do it even out of spite.”

“What does that mean, _theoretically_?” Scott asked.

Simon shrugged. “That means I’m married, you have a boyfriend and we’ve both moved on with our lives, but you’re still hot as hell. Doesn’t matter anyway. Even if I was seriously hung up on you, that look you were just giving Grassi would make me give up all hopes.”

Scott gave him an unimpressed look, but he knew what Simon was talking about. It wasn’t like he even tried to be subtle anymore. And any denial he might have had been in when he and Mitch were just friends turned to dust once they started dating. So what if he was looking at Mitch? He was allowed to.

But Simon didn’t need to know what went through Scott’s mind. “What do you want?” he asked, not unkindly. This new Simon might have rubbed on him the wrong way, but he still hated conflict and believed in giving people second chances. Even creepers that watch people having sex in cars, apparently.

“Rude,” Simon protested good-naturedly. “I wanted to talk to you. Now I honestly can’t remember why I thought it was a good idea. I guess all this time capsule crap is making me nostalgic.”

“Did the nostalgia make you talk to Taylor too?” Scott asked. He’d seen them together before him and Mitch slipped behind that curtain earlier and by the look on Simon‘s face, he was facing his worst nightmare.

Simon laughed. “I said I’m nostalgic, not suicidal, didn’t I? I already ran into her twice and you should have seen how elegantly I spun on my heel and ran for my life.”

“You did date her,” Scott pointed out. “You brought this on yourself.”

Simon grimaced. “More like she brought it on me. You know she threatened to out me?”

Scott was not exactly surprised. Taylor was known for being ruthless. „I figured she was holding something over you,“ he said vaguely. „Still not sure why she wanted to date you so badly.“

„Drag me, would you?“ Simon retorted. „Seriously though, it was a combination of things. _I_ don’t even know the whole story. I just knew that if I wasn‘t convincing enough of a boyfriend, she was gonna out me to the whole school. I also have a reason to believe she knew I was head over heels for you and she would probably use that too. You know Taylor. She’s nothing if not thorough.“

„Thankfully, I don’t really know her anymore,“ Scott said. „I don’t even know what she does.“

„Last thing I heard she was still in L.A., but she goes from job to job. None of them has anything to do with acting as far as I know.“

Scott wasn’t even aware Taylor had aspirations to be an actress, so he just accepted the answer with a nod. He didn’t really wanted to talk about Simon‘s ex-girlfriend anymore. „How’s Jake?“ he asked to change the topic.

Simon grinned. „He’s Jake,“ he said simply.

Scott could relate to this kind of answer. He smiled. „So everything’s going great then?“

„Well, not everything.“ Simon shrugged. „Life is life, you know. Shit happens. But it’s just general stuff. And Jake is totally zen as always, so I just use him to remind myself that life is not a soap opera. I don’t have to die in Spanish over every little inconvenience.“

Scott laughed. „Bet you still do it anyway.“

„Maybe sometimes,“ Simon admitted. Then he paused and made a face. „Ok, maybe most of the time. But we’re not talking about my sorry ass right now. Or Taylor’s, for that matter.“

„We’re not talking about mine either,“ Scott retorted. „You already know more about it than I’m comfortable with anyway.“ He pursed his lips and looked away. He wasn’t planning on talking about this.

Simon blushed. „I can’t believe Mitch told you,“ he murmured.

Unbelievable. „You should be thankful he didn’t tell me back in high school. My impulse control wasn’t that great back then and I’d probably actually punch you.“

If he was being honest with himself, Scott wanted to punch Simon right now. Mitch was distracted by Rebecca and he wasn’t there to stop him. This was so tempting. But he held back.

„Why the hell would you tell Mitch anyway?“ he asked instead.

Simon still refused to meet Scott’s eyes. He shrugged. „I was stupid, obviously. It was back when you started talking again after you broke up, I guess. I don’t know what my thought process was but I hated that you were starting to get close again and I wanted to stop it.“

That didn’t really clear anything up. „Sure, that makes perfect sense,“ he said dryly.

Simon threw his arms. „I was seventeen. Most things I did make no sense now. We just talked about a perfect example of that.“

„Oh, right, Taylor.“

„Exactly. Anyway, it was an impulse decision. Mitch was there, waiting for you after your basketball practice and I knew that when you see him you’ll just stare at him like he hung the moon again. So I lashed out at him.“

Scott scoffed. „I didn’t look at him like he hung the moon,“ he said and had to keep himself from pouting.

„Honey, I don’t remember a time when you didn’t. And I was so jealous. I wanted someone to look at me like that and all the other boys at school were complete idiots.“

Scott finally relaxed a bit and laughed. „ _I_ was a complete idiot.“

„Sure,“ Simon agreed with a smile. „But you were an idiot for Mitch, which at least made sense. Grassi is pretty damn cute, even if he’s not my type.“

Scott wasn’t about grace this with an answer. He was honest enough with himself to know what his feelings for Mitch were in the past and now. And he had been honest with Mitch too. But he really wasn’t going to open up to Simon about anything substantial. Not that he thought he would leak it or anything, but Simon was still a virtual stranger and as open Scott could sometimes be about his relationships online, there were lines he wasn’t comfortable crossing.

Simon probably realized that, because he stood and brushed an invisible speck of dust off of his pants. „I’m just saying. You know what Beyoncé says.“ He wiggled his hand in a telling gesture and nodded goodbye at the others before he walked away.

Good thing he did. Scott felt like punching him all over again. Throwing Beyoncé at him, who the hell did the guy think he was?

The truth was, Scott didn’t need Simon’s advice to want to propose to Mitch. He bought the ring about a month ago. And it wasn’t like Scott and Mitch didn’t talk about marriage before, but it was always about this vague future. So far, Scott was testing the waters some more, teasing Mitch about proposing to him or asking him random question about their hypothetical wedding. And though at the beginning, Mitch seemed a little startled by it, he had long since relaxed and judging by the knowing looks he occasionally gave Scott in reaction to his teasing, it was probably save to assume Mitch wouldn’t be completely against getting engaged.

But here and now really wasn’t the time or place to have a talk like this. Scott sighed and moved closer to his friends to join the conversation. Rebecca had already left and they were now talking among themselves.

He vaguely heard Mr. Davidson when he called a break, but they didn’t really need it at this side of the curtain, so he ignored it.

„Whatever it was, it was very graceful,“ Matt was saying, grinning at Kirstie.

She laughed and rolled her eyes. „You know what? Next time, you can borrow my shoes for the show and we’ll see how long you can keep it up.“

Scott imagined Matt in Kirstin’s heels and laughed as he slid right next to Mitch and threw and arm around his shoulders. Mitch automatically leaned back into Scott’s chest. Scott dropped a tiny kiss on his temple.

„Excuse me,“ Matt said, „I’m beauty and I’m grace...“

They all looked at him expectantly.

Matt laughed. „Yeah, I’d totally fall flat on my face, jerks,“ he finished. Then he pointed at Scott. „You’re the last one who should be laughing. Do I have to remind you of last week?“

Kevin started laughing. „Oh man. The turn!“

Matt jumped up and demonstrated by turning part way on one heel and promptly collapsing to the ground, flapping his arms in the air.

That was so not how he looked. „The fans said it looked like it was part of the choreography,“ Scott protested.

„They were being nice, honey,“ Mitch said, half distracted by his phone.

Scott gave him a betrayed look. „Oh wow, drag me.“

Mitch turned to him and pecked him on the cheek, which made Scott smile against his will.

„If you practice, you might be able to incorporate it into the next show,“ Mitch said with a grin.

Scott rolled his eyes. „Yes, thank you very much. My hip still hurts. I’m getting old.“

Matt laughed. „If you’re getting old, Kevin here is one foot in the grave.“

Kevin shoved him, which turned into a friendly fight. Scott used their distraction and wrapped both of his arms around Mitch’s shoulders, pulling him closer. Even after several hours in this packed place, Mitch smelled almost too good to be true. A little sweaty, yes, but that actually made it better. Scott buried his nose into Mitch’s neck and sighed contently.

„I love you,“ he mumbled against his skin and could almost feel it heating up. Mitch always blushed when Scott showed him affection like this, as if he was still not used to how freely Scott gave it away.

Mitch lowered his phone and put one hand over Scott’s, stroking it gently. „I love you too,“ he said simply. „And just for the record, you did get better since the ramps.“

„Don’t even remind me of the ramps,“ Kirstie jumped into their conversation.

Matt and Kevin stopped shoving each other and turned to her.

„What ramps?“ Matt asked.

„Just be glad you weren’t there for that. Though, knowing you, you’d probably enjoy it,“ Kirstie said with a smile.

Mitch pulled up a video with Kirstie trying to walk up and down one of the ramps in her heels and showed it to Matt. „These ramps. It‘s too bad I don‘t have a video of Scott sliding on it.“

Scott tried not to laugh at the memory. „Oh my God, don’t remind me,“ he said. „Do you have any idea how grateful I am we don’t have the fucking ramps anymore? My ass still remembers them.“

Mitch smirked. „Don’t worry, I’m sure your ass made quite an impression on them too.“

Kirstie and Matt laughed. Scott gave Mitch a glare but he couldn’t hold back a snort. Kevin, who was already going from Mitch’s video and the memories of the ramps, was now full on spasming and howling.

Scott scowled at Mitch again for good measure, because his boyfriend looked quite self-satisfied over making everyone laugh.

„You don’t have to tell me my ass is impressive, I already knew that,“ he told Mitch, just to mess with him a little in turn.

„Is your ass humble too?“ Mitch retorted, completely unbothered.

„Why should it be? It seems like no one is able to stop talking about it today.“ His earlier conversation with Simon popped up in his mind again.

„This is highly inappropriate,“ Kristie jumped in. „We should stop talking about Scott’s ass like it’s not here.“

„Exactly,“ Matt said. „It has feelings, you know.“

Kevin fell off the bench. Matt went right after him, because Scott reached over and shoved him.

„Hey!“ Matt protested. „Stop bullying me. I stood up for your ass.“ He was laughing so hard, he was barely able to speak.

There was another squabble between Kevin and Matt as they were trying to climb back into their seats. Scott cheered on Kevin, just to spite Matt, which made Kirstie join in and cheer on Matt, because fair was fair. Mitch rolled his eyes and watched them like a disapproving parent, but when it seemed like Matt was going to win, he whistled like a referee and called a foul play from Matt.

Scott grinned at him. „Thank you for supporting my player.“

„I’m not playing favorites here,“ Mitch said seriously. „Elbows are not allowed.“

„What are you gonna do?“ Matt protested. „Send me on the bench?“

It took quite a while for all of them to calm down a little. Matt, flushed from the fight drained the rest of his water and then Scott’s when he offered it to him as a peace offering. It turned out that Mitch was in fact on Kevin’s side and Matt therefore blamed Scott for the fact that he lost.

„I’ll go get some more water,“ Scott announced. He wanted to stretch his legs anyway. He felt like if they called them on the stage now, he would trip on his own feet. „Does anyone want anything?“

„Water for me too, please,“ Mitch said and sent him a loud kiss. „Thank you, honey.“

„Same.“ Kirstie smiled at him and then added: „Thank you, honey.“

„Get a bottle for me too,“ Matt joined in with a wide grin. „Thank you, honey.“

Scott saw Mitch roll his eyes at them. He just chuckled and shook his head and then looked at Kevin expectantly. „You want anything?“

„Will you bring me water if I don’t call you honey?“

Scott laughed and shrugged. „Sure, married people have an exception. You can save it for Leigh.“

Walking away, he turned back once more to make sure any of them didn’t remember they wanted a snack or something else. None of his friends paid attention to him anymore though. They huddled together over Mitch’s phone, giggling over something he was showing them. Scott hoped it wasn’t a compilation of him tripping on stage or something.

He continued towards the snack tables with a bundle of warmth in his chest. Sometimes they could get on each other‘s nerves, especially towards the end of a tour leg when they’d spent way too much time together, but there were very few other people in the world that he loved more than his band mates.

They were his family and his best friends and he knew them like the back of his hand. Being on stage with someone day after day did this to you. It created a bond like no other and sometimes it was startling to realize how much these people actually meant to him. The wonder of having this career and share it with them had a way of sneaking up on him and taking his breath away in the weirdest moments.

Time stopped when this happened. It didn’t matter where he was or what he was doing. It could be in the middle of a show when he looked over and saw his best friends in the world singing their hearts off. Or it could be a moment like this when they were all together, talking or just sitting around in companionable silence.

Scott smiled to himself, but stopped his mind from elaborating further on it. He tended to get emotional about this and he didn’t want to just randomly start crying in front of his former classmates.

It was just as he approached the snack tables when he heard someone calling his name.

„Hoying! Oh, wow! What’s up, bro?“

Scott turned in time to see a row of white teeth before he was wrapped in a bear hug.

„Hi, Dewayne,“ he said, slapping the guy on his back. It could literally be no one else. There was no one in this school that he knew that would have the same voice or the same energy.

They stepped away from each other and Scott finally had time to take in Dewayne‘s appearance. He did look a bit older, with sharper features and just a hint of crow’s feet around his eyes, but his grin was still the same as Scott remembered it, almost impossibly wide, endlessly enthusiastic, and infectious.

„Dude, it’s so good to see you. Well, other than from the other side of the stadium.“

Scott was about to return the pleasantries, but he stopped and his eyebrows shot up. „You were at a show? Why didn’t you let us know?“

Dewayne waved his hand. „Don’t wanna steal you away from your fans. I wouldn’t know how to let you know anyway and I couldn’t hang out for long most of the times anyway. Like the last time you came to New York I took my kids to see you, but they have curfew, you know.“

Scott stared at him as Dewayne spilled all this out in one breath. He wasn’t sure he caught everything information that was just thrown on him. „Seriously, why are none of our friends letting us know when they come see us?“ he huffed.

Dewayne raised his hands in a defensive gesture. „I don’t know, man. I didn’t really think any of you remembered me. And I never, like, came to see you after your shows in high school either. That would be just weird, I don’t know.“ One of his hands flew up to the back of his head in a reflexive gesture and he looked away.

Scott couldn’t believe his ears. „First of all, you’re kinda hard to forget, to be honest. Second of all, how does coming to our shows and side projects makes you any different from our other fans? Even if we didn’t know each other, we’d still love to meet you.“

Dewayne shrugged. „Yeah, but it wouldn’t set me apart, would it? I talked to you in high school, but because we were on a basketball team together, but I barely ever had a proper conversation with you, much less Kirstie or even Mitch. I don‘t have more claim over you guys than other fans because we happened to go to the same high school. You know these stories where the high school classmate who barely acknowledged you the whole four years suddenly starts claiming friendship, because you became famous? Well, it’s mainly Princess Diaries, but I’m sure it‘s in other movies too. But anyway, I don‘t wanna be like that, dude.“

Scott almost forgot to breath how hard he was concentrating on what Dewayne was saying. Not to mention after years of singing with choirs and a cappella groups, he was used to timing his breath with other people and Dewayne didn’t seem to breath once during his speech.

„What are you even talking about?“ Scott asked finally. „You talked to us when you had a chance and you were at like every high school production we were at. I know it wasn’t for us specifically, but you always showed support. You have every right to claim friendship.“

Dewayne still looked doubtful, but he looked a little more relaxed. „I promise I’ll let you know next time.“ Then he scratched his head. „Um, over Twitter is okay? I don’t have your number of anything.“

Scott wanted to smack himself over the head. „Twitter is crazy, I have like hundreds of messages every minute. Give me your phone.“

Dewayne handed it over without hesitation and Scott put his number in. He added a note to remind Dewayne, he should call Scott. Then he rang himself, so he could save Dewayne in his contacts too, with a note to himself, to remind him of this conversation. He hoped it would beat the system and allow them to keep in contact.

„There. You have no more excuses. Call me next time you want to go to a show,“ Scott said, pointing his finger at him for emphasis. „And I got to meet your kids. How many do you have anyway?“

„Twenty.“

Scott almost choked at his own spit. „What?!“

Dewayne laughed. „I’m a gym teacher at Florence Nightingale. It‘s an elementary school in Manhattan.“

The idea of Dewayne as a teacher was maybe even weirder to Scott than Rebecca as a teacher. Then again, he had no idea, what career Dewayne wanted to have. Scott knew that Dewayne got a basketball scholarship, but that could have ended many ways.

„They let you just take the kids to a concert?“ he asked, not wanting to interrogate Dewayne about his education. He’d leave that to Mr. Davidson.

„Hey, I’m perfectly reliable,“ Dewayne retorted with a laugh. „And I didn‘t take all of them. Only about half of them got a permission from their parents. Then there were some who were already going with their parents.“

Scott shook his head and gave Dewayne a small smile. „Man, I’m really glad you listen to our stuff.“

„Dude, why the hell wouldn’t I? You guys are sick. Everything you do is gold. I saw Kirstie in Kinky Boots too and I went to the Superfruit shows in New York.“

„You really need to let us know when you want to come it,“ Scott stressed again. „I’m serious.“

„I will, I promise,“ Dewayne said.

Scott was a bit curious about something else too. „Did you like the Superfruit show? It’s kinda different from what we do with Pentatonix. Or even what we did at school.“

„I loved it!“ Dewayne said enthusiastically. „I took my sister to see you the second time and she loved it too. Made all of her friends listen to your stuff and everything.“

Scott frowned. He remembered Dewayne‘s brother, but he didn’t know he had a sister. „Your sister?“

Dewayne shrugged. „Yeah. You remember Jamie?“

„Oh.“ Scott smiled a realization dawned on him. Jamie was the name of who Scott knew as Dewayne’s brother.

„Turns out she’s actually my little sister. Came out as transgender after I graduated.“ He glanced down for a second. „Our parents took a minute, to say the least. She stayed with me the first two years and I took on a few jobs so she could start her transition.“

It hit Scott like a hammer when he realized what it meant. Dewayne didn‘t pursue the basketball scholarship to take care of his sister.

Dewayne grinned again. „Mom and dad came around eventually and Jamie is kicking ass in Harvard now. Law school. I went back to college after Jamie went back home and ended up in New York.“ He shoved Scott‘s shoulder lightly, obviously taking notice of Scott’s expression. „Wipe off that face, bro. It all worked out. I’m actually glad it turned out this way. I love my job and I met my wonderful wife at the school I started at.“

„Still,“ Scott says. „Jamie’s really lucky to have you.“

Dewayne actually blushed a little. „Nah, man. I’m the lucky one.“ He turned and studied one of the snack bars he picked up from the table as if it was the single most interesting thing in the whole world.

Scott wasn’t going to push Dewayne. They were never close enough to share any really meaningful conversations and while Scott was definitely going to make more effort to stay in contact with Dewayne after this encounter, he didn’t want to make the guy uncomfortable with emotional talk.

Dewayne cleared his throat after a while. „Anyway, I heard you and Grassi are getting hitched. So, congratulations.“ He gave Scott another smile, this time, of a softer kind.

Scott paused before he eyed Dewayne suspiciously. „Um, who said that? It was Simon, wasn’t it?“

Dewayne looked surprised. „Well, yeah. But, I mean, it made sense, so I didn’t think to question it. You’re not getting hitched?“

Scott rolled his eyes. „Simon’s a jerk, please don’t listen to anything he says.“

„Ok,“ Dewayne said slowly. „But he‘s married to a guy...“

„People can be gay and jerks. It‘s not mutually exclusive.“ Scott had to press his lips together to keep from laughing.

Dewayne chuckled. „I guess. I don’t actually know Simon that well. I just thought he would know those things. Like you guys can tell if someone else is gay?“

This time, Scott did laugh. „As much as I wish we had some kind of magical sixth sense that would hone in on all the gays in the area, the gaydar thing is more of a myth. Sometimes you can tell, sometimes you can’t. And it’s always best not to assume, either way. Either way, Simon doesn‘t have a magical power that tells him when Mitch and I get married.“

In an attempt to shove his annoyance with Simon aside, Scott finally turned to the table, remembering that he was here for a reason. He took two bottles of water and shoved them into the pockets of his hoodie. Then he picked up three more.

„And now that I know he‘s spreading these rumors, I might make sure that when I do propose to Mitch, he’ll be the very last person to know. I’m gonna call Fox News and all that.“

He was seriously fed up with Simon trying to insert himself into Scott‘s life again. He respected that Simon figured himself out and build a solid relationship and career for himself, but between the parking lot voyeurism, the lack of proper apology for bullying Mitch in high school and his attempt on getting personal information out of Scott, he really wasn’t inclined to let Simon back into his group of friends.

„Ok,“ Dewayne said, laughing. „I’ll check with Fox News next time Simon tells me something.“

Scott smiled. „You won’t have to. _You_ I’d tell.“ He definitely wanted to keep in touch with Dewayne. The guy deserved it for all the support he’d given them.

He gestured with the water bottles in a vague direction of his band. „Hey, you wanna see Mitch and Kirstie? They’re over there with Matt and Kevin.“

Dewayne hesitated, but then he nodded. „Sure. If they won’t mind. Like I said, I don’t really know Kirstie and Mitch that well.“

Scott shrugged. „Then at least you’ll meet him. Come on.“

As the group came to their sight, Scott immediately felt a smile tugging at his lips. Matt was standing on the bench, doing some kind of weird dance to Kevin‘s beatboxing while Kirstie and Mitch ad-libbed harmonies.

Scott couldn’t help but join them, adding a few effects on the made up tune. Inevitably though, one of them messed up, adding a note that sounded a bit off. They immediately stopped, surrendering to a fit of laugher.

Mitch snatched one of the water bottles from Scott‘s hand, opened it and drank about half of it at one go. Then he grimaced and burped.

Kirstie snorted. „Maybe slow down next time?“

„As long as I’m not burping mid song, we’re fine,“ Mitch said and then pecked Scott on the lips as a thank you for the water.

„Oh, hi, Dewayne!“ Kirstie gave her former classmate a wide smile and immediately went to hug him.

Dewayne seemed surprised but hugged her back, his signature wide grin appearing on his face again. „What‘s up, Kirstie?“

Scott introduced Mitch for good measure. Event though they knew each other’s name, they barely crossed each other’s paths in high school. Kevin and Matt came forward too and shook hands with Dewayne.

Dewayne looked at Kevin with awe in his eyes for a few second, before blurting out: „I can’t believe you‘re real.“ Then he stepped back, looking slightly embarrassed.

Matt laughed and slapped Dewayne’s shoulder. „Don’t worry, you’re not the only one.“

Kevin shove Matt slightly and smiled at Dewayne. „Thank you, man. I mean, it was a compliment, right?“

Matt cackled in the background, promptly getting more shoves, until he was behind Kevin.

„Um, yeah. Yeah, sorry. I just... I think you’re awesome, man.“ Dewayne was actually blushing.

Scott couldn‘t believe his eyes. The easy-going and cool Dewayne he knew turned into a blubbering mess in front of Kevin. It was very cute.

Dewayne was acting like a school-girl with a crush for about the next twenty minutes. He actually sat down and chatted with Kevin about exercise and asked a lot of questions about beatboxing. He also joked around with Matt and talked to Kirstin and Mitch for a little bit.

In the end, he stuck around for more than half an hour, before he had to go. He explained that he wanted to find one of his friends from high school he hadn‘t talk to yet and he was also nervous about going on stage.

„I’m not cut out, for that, man,“ he told them. „I feel like I shrink every time I need to speak in front of an audience.“

„Didn’t you say, you’re a teacher?“ Mitch asked.

„Gym teacher. And it’s little kids. These are high-schoolers,“ Dewayne said with terror in his eyes. Then he lowered his voice into a dramatic whisper. „And Taylor Harper.“

Mitch made a horrified face. „Ok, now I’m nervous.“

„Who’s Taylor Harper?“ Matt asked.

„Pray that you never find out,“ Dewayne told him with a grave nod.

Kirstie rolled her eyes. „She’s not the devil, come on, guys.“ They she turned to Matt. „But I’d rather not meet her here.“

Matt raised his eyebrows. „Ok, got it. She _is_ the devil.“

Mitch shook his head. „She was unpleasant in high school. She might be better now.“

„Simon ran away from her,“ Scott said. His problems with Simon aside, the guy was pretty bold now and could deal with some tough people.

Mitch’s eye went wide. „Ok, scratch that, we are avoiding her at all costs.“

Scott looked around, but thankfully didn‘t even catch a glimpse of Taylor. Which might be for the better anyway. He was quite wary of her – no one wanted to become Taylor’s target. Now, it was a question of if she changed, but guessing from Simon’s reaction, it was probably not the case. Then again, Simon had some really bad experiences with her and might not be seeing her clearly.

He absent-mindedly waved Dewayne goodbye, still scanning the crowd. Then he flinched. One of his hands flew to Mitch‘s shoulder and he drew him closer in a protective gesture.

Mitch gave him a questioning glance and then followed Scott‘s gaze to the person that was approaching them.

Scott squeezed his shoulder. „This is gonna be interesting.“


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all very much for your lovely comments, for all the kudos and just for reading my work in general.
> 
> I am currently working on another Pentatonix/Superfruit fanfiction and I hope to post the first chapter #soon :).
> 
> I hope you're all safe and healthy and that you'll have a wonderful week.

It was difficult for Mitch to suppress the old, deep-ingrained sense of threat when he looked at the man approaching them. Jasper wore a light brown leather jacket, his longer blond hair in a ponytail and a determined expression on his face. He looked like textbook definition of a country rock singer.

Kirstie immediately jumped up and slid right in front of Mitch in a protective fashion. Matt and Kevin obviously realized that the man approaching was a problem and stood up too. Each of them took a spot on either side of the trio and crossed their arms over their chests, looking like a pair of very menacing bodyguards.

Mitch looked at them, slightly amused. „Oh my god, squad rights,“ he mumbled to Scott.

Scott smiled a little, but didn’t take his eyes off of Jasper. Mitch felt Scott’s hand on his shoulder tighten as Jasper stopped a few steps before them and watched them for a while without saying a word.

Finally, he sighed and spoke: „I’m not here to murder Grassi.“

„Then why are you here?“ Kirstie asked and crossed her hands over her chest. It should have looked ridiculous in comparisson to Kevin and Matt, but Mitch knew she could be twice as scary as them.

„Look, can I just talk to Grassi somewhere for a little bit?“ Jasper asked. He was clearly taken aback by the hostile reaction from his former classmates. „I promise, I won’t try to assassinate him.“

Kevin stepped forward, looking very menacing. „I don’t know you man, but making unsolicited promises not to murder someone doesn’t make you sound trustworthy.“

Mitch sighed and shook his head. This was getting a little too far. Jasper might have been a nightmare in high school, but somehow, he didn’t seem half as intimidating now.

Jasper took a step closer and tried to look Mitch in the eyes, but Kirstie moved so she would be directly between them again.

Jasper stepped back and raised his hands defensively. „Ok, ok. What do I have to do for you to leave me alone with Grassi? I need five minutes.“

"Maybe you could ask him directly?" Mitch suggested sarcastically. He moved Kirstie gently to the side and stepped forward to face Jasper. "You know, since he's actually here and he's able to make decisions for himself."

Jasper looked surprised, but he quickly put himself together and nodded. "Right. Sorry, Grassi." Then he gestured to the side. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Mitch gave him a big, fake smile. He didn't necessarily do it on purpose, it just came out that way. "Sure," he replied.

He felt Kirstie's hand on his arm and turned to her. "It's fine. I promise I'll fight back."

"If he says anything even slightly offensive, give me a sign and I’ll kick his ass," she said loud enough for Jasper to hear every word.

Scott nodded in agreement. "I'll hold him down for her."

"And we'll watch," Matt added eagerly.

Mitch snorted and shook his head. "I'm sure it won't be necessary." He turned to Jasper and frowned at him. "Right?"

"Right," Jasper said, looking entirely unconcerned.

Mitch followed Jasper to the back corner of their section of the gym, trying to figure out what this was all about. He hadn't seen Jasper since high school and wasn't aware of anything in his life that might have to do with the guy. There was still a part of his mind that was a bit paranoid when it came to Jasper, but he wasn't about to listen to it. Jasper trying to take his spot in Pentatonix was actually about the most ridiculous thing he could think of right now.

Jasper suddenly stopped and turned around. His indifferent expression disappeared and was replaced by something that resembled nervousness.

"Ok," Jasper mumbled, clearly more for himself then for Mitch. Then he squared his shoulders and looked Mitch directly in the eyes. "I wanted to apologize."

Out of everything Mitch expected to hear right now, this was about the last one. "What?"

"I'm sorry," Jasper said, somehow managing to make it sound rather defiant. "I know we didn't exactly see eye to eye in high school and I know that it was largely due to my... personal issues concerning your... identity."

Mitch gave him a dry look. "You mean your homophobia." If this was any other person, he would probably let them talk and appreciated that they could admit to being wrong, but there was something about Jasper that clawed on Mitch's nerves and made him want to be less considerate than he normally was.

Jasper made a face, but nodded. "That's another way to put it. And I'm sorry if I made you feel like your... identity was a problem for me when it came to you being in the choir or even part of The Trio."

Mitch couldn't believe his ears. Jasper looked like he was going to continue, but Mitch stopped him with a resolute gesture. "Wait. Let me unpack this," he said slowly. "First of all, stop saying the word _identity_ that way. It's not helping your case. Second of all, I don't like that you're apologizing for my feelings, because that's usually asshole for 'you were just being oversensitive'. And third of all, thank you for acknowledging I was allowed to be in the choir and _even part of The Trio_!"

Jasper winced at Mitch's raised voice, but didn't look angry or defensive. "That's fair. I could have worded that better, I guess."

"You guess?" Mitch asked incredulously.

Jasper contemplated him for a minute and eventually said: "Can we put our differences aside for a moment?"

Unbelievable. That guy was unbelievable. But Mitch did want to get this over with as soon as possible, so he reluctantly agreed. "I still don't see the point of this conversation."

"I was getting to it," Jasper said and Mitch had to hold himself back from lashing out.

"Well," he said instead, trying to sound calm and collected. "I'm listening."

"My point is, I acted the way I did, because I knew which one of us had better chances of succeeding. And the past ten years proved me right. I knew you had the talent and the personality for the kind of career that I wanted and I resented you for it. It seemed unfair." Jasper said all this simply, almost without emotion, as if he was just stating undeniable facts. "I always worked very hard on my music and my voice and you seemed to just walked in and casually sing the hardest parts of the choir arrangements that I was practicing for weeks."

Mitch interrupted him. "You think I didn't practice? I worked just as hard as everyone else, Jasper. What are you even doing? Trying to make me feel like I don't deserve what I got? Fuck you."

„Grassi, calm down.“

Mitch was seriously tempted to jump at him and claw his eyes out or something similarly drastic. Did Jasper even realized how patronizing he sounded? Daring to get Mitch to talk to him and pretending to apologize and then turned it around and made it all about himself.

"If you really want to apologize," Mitch said, trying to control his voice, "then fucking apologize and don't attach all this bullshit to it. You're not apologizing, Aveyard. You're just telling me that I'm actually responsible for you bullying me, because _I_ made you hate me."

"I didn't bully you!" Jasper seemed truly appalled at the idea. "I challenged you and I competed with you and it's not my fault that you attached your assumptions to it. Not to mention, you're putting words into my mouth Grassi. I didn't say it was your fault..."

"Are you actually kidding me right now!" Mitch interrupted him, raising his voice. "You routinely ignored me and inserted yourself into my conversations with my friends and pretended like I wasn't there. You insinuated on several occasions that I wasn't good enough to have solos, have a say in the choir arrangements and even went behind my back and tried to persuade my friends to kick me out of The Trio and go with you instead."

To his horror, he felt that his eyes were prickling with tears. Tears of frustration over everything he was forced to go through even in places like choir that were supposed to be his escape. He tried to steel himself against the tears. He didn't want Jasper to see him cry.

"Your jealousy and your stupid homophobia came through in pretty much every interaction I had with you," Mitch went on. "You constantly belittled me and made me feel like I didn't matter and like I wasn't enough even in that one thing I could do best: singing. You tried to take away my friends from me. I don't know what you think bullying is, but I assure you that that _was_ bullying!"

He took a deep breath. The tears didn't escape and he felt more collected now, getting it all of his chest. "I guess I should apologize then. I assumed you were mean to me because of _my identity_. I'm sorry. I just didn't realize you were a jealous dick first and a homophobic asshole second. I guess I was thrown off by the slurs that you casually called me when you decided to acknowledge my existence."

Jasper stood there and to Mitch's satisfaction seemed completely stunned.

"Guess what,” Mitch went on. “I was too intimidated by you in high school to say anything. But I'm not afraid of you anymore. I'm confident in myself, in my career and my friends and you can't try and take any of that from me. Well, I guess you could try, but you would fail miserably and I know that now."

Jasper looked completely out of his element. Clearly he did not expect this conversation to go this way. He opened his mouth and then closed it, then opened it again, no sound coming out.

"So, like I said," Mitch continued before Jasper could actually speak, "if you want to apologize, do it. But I'm not interested in gaslighting or even a simple explanation. I don't need anything from you, Jasper."

He guessed that a part of him actually needed to get all this out, so in a way, he needed something from Jasper before they had this conversation, but not anymore. He felt lighter, like he finally got rid of a burden he didn't even know he had.

"I didn't know you saw it like that," Jasper said quietly, his voice unstable. He sounded like he was just shaken to his core. He was silent again for what seemed like eternity, clearly fighting an internal battle. Finally, he straightened his back, his fists clenched as he looked Mitch straight in the eyes and said: "I apologize." His lips twitched for a second, but he said nothing else.

Mitch decided to ignore the first part, because Jasper seemed genuinely surprised. And he could appreciate how difficult it was for Jasper to say sorry without anything else attached to it. "Apology accepted," he said.

"I respect what you accomplished," Jasper went on, even if he looked like he was in pain, admitting it. "You're a really good singer, Grassi."

Even though Mitch didn't need Jasper's validation anymore, he wasn't blind to how big of a compliment it actually was, coming from Jasper. So Mitch kept himself from making any sarcastic remarks and nodded. "Thanks. I heard when you played with your band earlier. You guys are good too." He didn't exactly want to extend the olive branch or anything, but he did think Jasper was good and he wanted to establish some kind of balance between them before hopefully never seeing this guy again.

"Thank you," Jasper said and after another minute of silence briskly nodded to himself as if he just finished some straining task. "Right. Well, I think I'm gonna go now. Say hi to Kirstin and Scott. And...to Kevin and Matt too, I suppose."

"Bye, Jasper," Mitch said and then walked away without saying another word or looking back. He was for once and for all done with this guy. Thank god.

His friends all fell silent the second he came closer, looking at him anxiously. He bet they heard at least part of the fight. He and Jasper weren't that far away and Mitch was quite conscious of the fact that he literally yelled at Jasper for a bit there.

"I'm alive," he announced when nobody else spoke.

Matt showed him thumbs up. "Thanks for letting us know. Appreciate it."

"Are you ok?" Kirstin asked, ignoring Matt. "We heard yelling."

"Yeah, you heard _me_ yelling at _him_ ," Mitch said, sitting down at his spot next to Scott. "I'm ok, Kirstie, I promise. I actually feel great. I got it out of my chest and I can let it go now."

"Wait," Scott said, frowning at him. "You're telling me that what that asshole did in high school still bothered you?"

"Not consciously," Mitch replied. "I didn't like, lie awake at night thinking about Jasper. Well," he paused and grinned at Scott, "except for that dream you found such a great use for. That pretty much kept me awake for the rest of the night." He grimaced at the memory of the nightmare where Jasper in a pink leotard danced on Mitch's bad, trying to seduce Scott.

Scott laughed. "Yeah, at least it was good for something. Like I said, you should be thankful I found a use for it."

"I will never be thankful for that," Mitch said emphatically. "But anyway, I guess I still held on on some of it and I didn't realize it. So when I yelled at him, it all just burst out and now I'm free of it. Or at least I hope I am."

"What exactly did this guy do to you?" Kevin asked, shooting a murderous look in the direction where Jasper disappeared in the crowd.

Mitch shrugged, trying to sound non-committal. He didn't need Kevin to hunt Jasper down. "In high school, I was pretty much convinced he was out to get me," he explained. "And honestly, a part of it was paranoia. But also, who says that being paranoid means they're not after you. Not to mention he did a lot of things that downright supported my theory, like trying to convince Scott and Kirstie to let him be in The Trio instead of me."

"Yes, that was awful, but he wasn't trying to steal your life," Kirstie said. "He was overly ambitious and jealous of you, but he wasn’t going to kill you and wear your face or anything."

"Do I know that? Sure. Will I turn that idea into a biographical thriller? Probably." Mitch gave her a long look. "But also, the way you reacted when he came here, it kind off seemed like _you_ thought he was gonna kill me and wear my face."

Kirstie rolled her eyes. "I was being overprotective. I am aware he treated you terribly when we were in high school. I was there, remember? I'm not trying to defend him. I'm just saying that you were way too worried about him trying to get in The Trio and on the other hand downplayed all the slurs and comments he made about you being gay."

Mitch smiled at her. "Don't think I didn't yell at him about that too. I promise I laid it all on the table. Anyway," he said, sighing. He didn’t really want to talk about Jasper anymore. "We can cross Jasper Aveyard out of out list of people we met here that we never wanted to see after high school."

"Sure," Scott agreed. "And can we cross Simon too while we're at it? I've got it up to here with him."

"I thought we were cool with Simon," Mitch said.

Scott frowned. "He's not as bad as Jasper or Taylor for that matter, but I'd rather not talk to him again. I can't forgive him for the voyeurism."

"What?!" Kirstie asked, looking shocked. "What voyeurism?"

"Don't ask," Mitch said. "You don't want to know."

Kirstie still looked confused, so Mitch decided to tease her a little. "You know how Scott and I sometimes disappeared in his car when we were dating in high school? Well, we went to..."

"Shut up, shut up shut up!” Kirstie interrupted him. “You were right. I don't want to know. Ew!"

The conversation would probably still continue, but at that precise moment, Mr. Davidson called out Scott's name. Scott was the first to jump up, but they all followed him to the curtain.

"Alright," he said, looking half nervous, half excited. "Just wait here and listen. I'll call you as soon as I can." Then he walked out there.

"Awesome! It's finally happening!" Rebecca appeared out of nowhere and tried to get through Mitch so she could peek through the gap.

Mitch stood his ground. "Calm down, Rebecca. Why are you even here?"

She pouted. "I want to see."

Mitch rolled his eyes, but stepped back a little, allowing her to look. He turned around briefly to see if Dominic was around and quickly realized that Rebecca wasn't the only one interested in seeing how Scott's stage time unfolded. Most of their former classmates, including the people they brought with them stopped chatting and were looking towards the curtain, clearly listening to Scott's conversation with Mr. Davidson.

"You're an asshole, Hoying!" Rebecca yelled right next to him and made Mitch jump. "You and your side projects, I swear to God!"

Mitch missed whatever prompted this, but he still doubted her hollering through the curtain was warranted. "What are you doing?" he asked.

But she paid him no attention and yelled: "I know, that's what pisses me off!" in response to whatever Scott just said.

Mitch shook his head and turned his attention to the stage. He quickly realized Scott was talking about coaching Citizen Queen or Acapop! KIDS. Mr. Davidson turned the conversation to Scott's job and college, but Scott kept being intentionally vague, clearly looking for the right moment to introduce the rest of the band.

Finally, Scott decided to do it through alluding to Rebecca's play. "Some sources say I put together a team of superheroes."

Mitch had to chuckle, but barely heard himself through the cheers on this side of the curtain. Most people clearly paid attention to Rebecca's play too and knew what Scott was talking about. Mitch looked over his shoulder briefly, only to see a lot of gazes were turned in his direction. He quickly turned back, trying to not freak out about it.

_Come on, Mitch, this is just like any other show. You just go out there and sing your little heart out._ His body instinctively jerked forward, wanting to walk out on the stage already, so he could forget his nerves. He stopped himself, but was immediately startled by Kirstie who slipped through the curtain, followed by Matt and Kevin. Mitch took a deep breath to get himself out of his thoughts and walked through right behind them.

It was disorienting. More disorienting than walking out on stage in front of thousands of people in their shows. The audience here was lit equally as much as the stage was and it looked weird to him. He was used to looking into relative darkness.

He stopped right next to Scott still looking into the excessively lit audience. His eyes were almost automatically drawn to his high school self, who was currently looking at him, with his eyes open wide. Mitch realized that some part of him remembered this. That's how he immediately knew where to look. He made himself look away from the high school trio and turned to Mr. Davidson. He greeted him, trying to sound calm and collected.

"Hi?" Mr. Davidson replied. "Mr...?"

Mitch realized the teacher had no idea who he was looking at. "Grassi. Mitchell. You might remember me. I used to be your student."

Yes, he changed, but was he really that unrecognizable, especially in the context of having Scott and Kirstie next to him?

Matt jokingly defended Mr. Davidson by pointing out how often Mitch changed his looks, to which Kevin quipped in, naming some of Mitch's former styles.

"No hair was fun too," Scott added.

That made Mitch roll his eyes. Of course Scott would like it. He was the one to shave his head. Mitch pointed it out to him and when Scott protested, he teased him and flirted a little. He almost forgot where he was. He quickly looked at his high school counterpart, remembering that this was the time when him and Scott were still not entirely out of their post break-up stage.

"Anyway," Scott said, turning back to Mr. Davidson. "This is the main project. We're a band."

Mr. Davidson looked ridiculously relieved at this explanation and asked how long they were together. Mitch tried to help Scott and Kirstie explain their beginnings, but it soon turned into banter again. Rebecca obviously couldn't stay out of it and started shouting from behind the curtain. It took much longer than Mitch expected to finally even get around to introducing Matt and Kevin. Mr. Davidson then suggested these two go and get the instruments out on the stage.

Mitch tried very hard not to laugh at that, especially since Matt and Kevin couldn't resist to make a whole thing out of it. When they finally both disappeared behind the curtain, Kirstin turned the conversation back to their lives, warning Mr. Davidson not to ask them about college.

Mitch couldn't help but joke about Scott coming up with the idea for the band. "Yes, I'm afraid we succumbed to Scott's bad influence."

Scott looked at him with a glint in his eye. "I remember how hard you were fighting it," he teased. "For the five seconds before you said yes. You didn't even give me a chance to try and persuade you. I had such good arguments too. You know, if this were any indication of how you'd respond to my proposals in general, it would make things easier for me when I ask you to marry me."

Mitch barely registered the surprised gasps from the audience. Though he made sure to look completely cool and collected, his heart pounded harder at the idea. Scott had been gently prodding him about the idea of marriage for quite a while now. Mitch didn't know if he was trying to be subtle, but if he was, he was failing spectacularly. It was clear as a day what he was doing and Mitch did what he could to give signs that he wasn't against the idea.

On the contrary. He gave this a thought and decided that he was ready. So now, every time Scott talked about marriage, Mitch would get excited and hopeful. Not necessarily that Scott would propose right at that moment, but just from the knowledge that his boyfriend was talking about it.

He didn't want to dig deep into this topic on stage in front of their former classmates though, so he just teased back: "You'll have to find out. I'm not cutting you any slacks."

Scott responded with a sexual innuendo, which prompted Kirstie to alert him that he was still speaking into the microphone.

Mitch used this time to look at his past self. He remembered how he felt after he broke up with Scott and all of the tension that came with it and while there was hope in the fact that past Scott and Mitch were sitting together in the stands, it still didn't mean that it was all resolved.

Past Mitch flinched when Mitch made eye-contact but seemed to realize immediately that he was trying to make sure everything was ok. Past Mitch nodded and gave a small smile, rather unsure, but still convincing.

Mr. Davidson started interrogating Kirstin about her private life and she used it as an opportunity to talk about her dogs. While she was in a happy relationship, she did say before that she'd told Mitch earlier that saw no use in talking about it on stage.

Kirstie was in the middle of describing how and how often she trains the dogs when she was interrupted by Kevin testing out one of the microphones. Clearly the wrong one, because there was a strong reverb on it. Probably Matt's microphone. Kevin apologized and presumably gave the microphone to Matt, because the bass tone that came through the speakers sounded exactly right.

Kevin and Matt walked out on the stage and gave the trio their microphones. Kevin explained the test he did earlier by pointing out that someone didn't label the microphones properly. Mitch wasn't surprised. They were forced to do the sound check very quickly before the time capsule even opened and there was about a hundred other things happening at the same moment. One of the current Martin teachers that the trio didn't know promised he would handle the labeling of the microphones. Clearly, he forgot.

Mitch gave his microphone a doubtful look. Hopefully it would at least work. Then he put in his ear pieces and slid into stage mode. Finally. They started on the mash up of New Rules and Are You That Somebody and Mitch felt his body relaxing, the stress flooded away by the rush of adrenalin and endorphins. He felt the energy of the audience and forgot who they were. The only important thing was that they were enjoying themselves and Mitch used that positive energy to feed his performance.

He barely looked over at his band mates. It wasn't necessary. He knew every move he caught in the corner of his eyes, every intake of breath and every slight modulation of their voices. It was a well choreographed dance that they knew like the back of their hands.

They finished the song and Mitch grinned, taking in the enthusiastic response from the audience. He almost forgot that they were his former classmates. That his own younger self was watching. Almost. But it didn't matter anyway. "Well, I guess they didn't hate it," he said. It was a joke, but he still felt a flash of relief. Especially when the audience laughed.

Kirstie lowered her microphone and turned to her band mates. Mitch could she that she was relieved too. "It's Daft Punk now, right?" she asked.

"And you laugh at me for having a bad memory?" Scott teased her. "Yes, it's Daft Punk, then Gold, then Can't Sleep Love and we finish with The Sound of Silence."

"I know, I know," Kirstie said. "I was just making sure everybody knew."

Matt laughed. "Sure, Kirstie. We believe you."

She made a face at him, making him laugh more. "Alright, lets do this so we're done as soon as possible. I'm getting distracted by my bangs. They're, like, all that I can see when I look into the audience."

"You look adorable," Matt said.

Kirstie smiled at him. "You're enjoying this way too much, aren't you?"

"The fact that I get to see your baby forms? You bet. Just let me have my five minutes here. We'll come back to our own time soon and then I'll probably forget about this, if I got it right."

"You might actually remember the feeling," Scott said. "But still, enjoy it, while it lasts."

Mitch was starting to get anxious again, so he jumped into their conversation. "Guys, can we please sing now?"

Scott looked at him in a way that told Mitch his boyfriend knew what was going on with him. Which was probably why he didn't ask any questions and just nodded. It was a signal for everyone else to get ready. Kevin introduced the Daft Punk medley and the crowd started cheering.

Mitch felt the knot in his stomach loosen at the sound of their enthusiasm. He waited for them to calm a little bit and ten started off the medley. This one they've done so many times Mitch was quite sure he could do it backwards. But there was comfort in the familiarity. New arrangements were always exciting and challenging, but a lot of the old ones, especially those they did often, just felt like home. He loved the parts where they sang the lyrics together, where it was challenging to pronounce everything just right to fit with the others. He supposed a lot of singers would aim for the spotlight, being excited for their solo, where they could shine. Mitch understood that. He loved his solos. But he wasn't just a solo singer. He was a part of a whole and he loved the moments in their arrangements that reminded him of it.

The song was over before Mitch even knew it. Matt took it upon himself to tell the audience they won a Grammy for this arrangement. Mitch smiled. He was glad Matt mentioned it because he knew how much it would mean to him in high school to hear that. He remembered the uncertainty about what he was going to do with his life, anxiousness over whether to choose the safer way of going to college or try something different. He remembered how much he wanted to be able to do music for a living, to any capacity. Back then, being actually recognized as an artist on the scale of wining a Grammy, seemed unimaginable, unreachable.

When he looked at his younger self and his friends, he knew how they felt. They couldn't hide their excitement, anyway, so even if he didn’t remember, he could just see for himself.

Mitch felt Scott's hand around his shoulders as his boyfriend pulled him closer. He felt the kiss Scott pressed on the top of his head and couldn't help but smile. He looked up at him. "We're killing it today, aren't we?" he said, wanting to keep the mood light. The emotions were running high as it was and as much as he wanted to just spontaneously tell Scott how much he loved it when Scott kissed the top of his head, this wasn't the right moment. Actually, this particular information was something he would probably take to his grave anyway.

"Yeah," Scott agreed. "We deserve a snack."

Mitch rolled his eyes. "Are you seriously hungry again?"

Scott winked at him. "I didn't necessarily meant food."

Mitch smirked, raised an eyebrow and pulled away, addressing the others. "Ok, ok, ladies. Let's do the rest of the set list. I don't wanna be up here forever."

"Let me guess," Kirstie said. "Scott is hungry."

Mitch grinned at her. "Yeah, but I thought you didn't want us to talk about that in front of you." He jumped away from her swipe and laughed when she complained to her younger self about what she has to endure from Scott and Mitch on daily basis.

It was fair. Mitch wanted to be discreet about their relationship at first, but soon realized that it was just impossible. Not only because Scott was just generally an affectionate person, but also because Mitch couldn't help but crave the affection. Even when they were just friends, they were touchy-feely in public.

Not that much had actually changed though. Matt didn't even notice they started dating until Scott mentioned that they’d had a one-month anniversary. They had been openly holding hands around their friends and cuddling on the sofa in the studio. They even greeted each other with a peck on the mouth. When they reminded Matt all of this, he shrugged and said: "I've seen no difference."

Mitch smiled at the memory, but quickly came back to reality. They were about to do Gold which was his solo and he needed to keep himself focused. He stretched his shoulders and his neck a little, making sure that his chest is nice and open and the muscles in jaw relaxed. Then he took a deep breath and started: _"Roof is fallin', let me love without ever letting you know..."_

They practically flew through the song. Mitch needed to be relaxed and let his mind run a little bit, because if he put too much thought into what he was doing, he would start worrying about screwing up and that was only a step from actually screwing up. So he let go and trusted himself and his band mates. Thankfully, this was not one of the times when he couldn't get out of his head. It actually surprised him a little. He would have thought that in this situation, he would be too nervous to be able to fully immerse himself into the performance.

Even the last part when they were switching the lines went as smoothly as it ever had and when the song ended, Mitch couldn't help but grin at the others. They really were on a roll tonight.

He noticed young Dewayne, who was cheering and jumping up and down and wondered what his adult counterpart was doing behind the curtain right now.

The last two songs went very smoothly. Mitch could tell the audience really enjoyed Can't Sleep Love and couldn't help but feel a twitch of pride in his chest like every time people praised their original songs. The Sound of Silence was more challenging for Scott than for Mitch and he was happy to step back a little and let everyone belt their parts while he had a softer part of the song.

Mitch noticed there was a bit of commotion in their high school group in between the songs and realized from the expression on his counterparts face that young Mitch was close to a panic attack. Thankfully, his friends handled it.

Kirstie and Scott both learned pretty early on how to help Mitch if his anxiety took the better of him. He tried to do it himself, learning different methods to recognize the signs soon enough to take himself off the edge, but it didn't always work, especially when he was in high school and didn't have as much experience with what worked for him.

When they sang the last note of The Sound of Silence, Mitch immediately felt fatigue creeping back into his body. All he wanted now was to find a nook behind the curtain where no one would disturb him, curl up into Scott's arms and sleep through the rest of this chaos. He waved into the crowd, barely even hearing the applause. Their departure from the stage was a blur and Mitch pretty much just let Scott lead him off.

"Can we sleep now?" he asked once they crossed to the other side of the curtain. But there was no use. They were swept by the crowd of their former classmates congratulating them on the performance, so Scott didn't hear Mitch. In fact, the crowd separated Mitch from his band mates and he snapped back into his professional mask, so he could handle it properly. He took a few selfies, signed some autographs for daughters, nephews and other relatives, shook some hands and returned pleasantries.

Once he finally got out of the crowd and started looking for his friends, he was nearly on the other side of the seating area. He sighed and made a few steps in the direction of his group, but immediately stopped dead in his tracks. A significant part of him wanted to turn around and run away, but he thought it would probably be a bit too dramatic. Instead he stood still and watched Taylor Harper come closer.

She didn't notice him until she was barely two feet from him. Her gaze was focused on something behind Mitch and she clearly wasn't paying attention. Then, when she was about to run into him, her eyes snapped to him, sharp and indignant as if she couldn't believe someone would dare stand in her way.

She gave him a once over, taking in his platform shoes, tight pants, his tattooed hands, his hoodie and his hair, looking at him as if he was some kind of extraordinarily revolting member of an alien species. "Grassi," she said finally.

Mitch wondered if he should feel honored. He didn't remember her ever calling him his name before. "Yes, that's my name. I'm impressed," he said dryly.

Taylor smirked. "You're a big star now. Figured I would throw you a bone."

"That's nice. How should I repay you?" he retorted.

"Get out of my way?" she suggested and gestured towards the snack tables. "I need to get some sugar in me and eat my pain away." She suddenly looked bitter.

Mitch almost got a whiplash from the sudden change of tone. He was so thrown off he stepped away to let her through without a word.

But Taylor stood where she was, studying his expression before she rolled her eyes. "Come on, Grassi. You can't tell me you haven't heard everything about my failure at this point? I know Simon's been spreading the word."

"I heard something," Mitch admitted. Scott told him she worked as a waitress. "But frankly, I don't know enough about your life to be able to judge what is or isn't a failure for you." There, he managed a diplomatic answer.

She looked amused. "Quit that bullshit. It's adorable, but I don't need you to try and spare my feelings. Simon's a dick, but I have enough self-awareness to know he's right. I did fail."

Mitch didn't know what to say to that. "You have a job," he tried.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for that," she acknowledged. "But I always wanted to be an actress and the acting I'm doing now is limited to pretending like I don't want to strangle the customers. Too bad they don't give out Oscars for that. I'd be one shoe in." She passed Mitch as she was talking and continued towards the snack tables, clearly expecting Mitch to follow her.

He was so confused by her that he did. At least he would pick up some food for Scott, while he was at it.

"Anyway," Taylor went on in a breezy, unbothered tone. "I heard congratulations are in order."

Mitch gave her a puzzled frown. She could have been talking about a number of things. Their last Grammy, their tour, the fact that their last album was number one on Billboard for nine weeks or their new Netflix documentary that premiered just three weeks ago and was doing extremely well. But he also somehow doubted she'd take that much interest in any of this.

She raised an eyebrow. "You and Hoying?" she prompted. "I heard you were getting married."

The first thing that came to his mind was that she was listening in when Scott mentioned a proposal on stage. But then she would know that they were not officially engaged yet. "I mean, we're kind of talking about it, but nothing's official yet."

"Oh." She looked surprised, but soon, her expression changed to one of comprehension and then annoyance. "Don't mind me. I should have known better than to believe anything Simon says."

"Simon said that?" Mitch wondered what Scott told him, but he was pretty sure Scott would not consciously give Simon any inside information about their relationship, considering their past.

"Well, I heard it from Layla," Taylor said. "Simon wouldn't tell me anything, but he told her and quite a few other people, from what I understand." She gave him and amused look. "I have to say that the rumor didn't surprise me half as much as hearing that it's not true."

"I have to say I'm surprised you even care," Mitch retorted.

She shrugged. "I don't, really. But I still like to be updated. You never know when an odd piece of news will come in handy."

This sounded more like the Taylor he knew. "Are you threatening me or something?" he asked, just to be sure.

Taylor laughed. It sounded sincere. "Don't flatter yourself, Grassi. But it's cute you think you matter to me that much." Despite the content of her words, she somehow managed to make it sound almost friendly.

"I don't," Mitch assured her. "And I'm thankful for it."

"I'm glad my reputation is still solid," she said. "But you have nothing to worry about. You were never among my targets and neither were your sidekicks. You were mostly just loud but you never crossed me, so why would I waste my time on you?"

"Drag us," Mitch retorted. He paused, trying to gather his thoughts and eventually decided to ask something that’s been bothering him since Scott told him about why Simon was so scared of Taylor. "Do you mind telling me what Simon did to you that you played with him like a cat with a mouse for years? He's still terrified of you."

She gave him a dark look. "I do mind, Grassi. Don't screw it up for yourself. You have your own significant number of experiences with high school Simon, you know what he was like. And so does your boyfriend. You two should be grateful I kept him in check."

Mitch frowned. "What do you mean?"

Taylor blinked and for a moment she looked unsure. "It doesn't matter," she tried to brush it off.

"Yes, it does!"

She shook her head and her uncertainty disappeared as if it never existed. She came closer to Mitch and looked him straight in the eye. "No, it doesn't, Grassi. High school is over. My job with Simon is done. And whatever I might have spared you and Hoying from him was a side-effect anyway. I didn’t do it for you. He might be different now, though I seriously doubt it. I would not give him a time of your day if I were you, just to be sure."

"I know he spied on me and Scott once," Mitch told her. He had no idea what made him do that, but a part of him hoped it would get her to tell him more.

She raised an eyebrow, clearly not surprised. "Ah, that does sound like him. Does Hoying know?"

"Yes, he does. I told him when we first met Simon in L. A. Scott almost punched him."

"I wish he'd done it," Taylor said. Then she waved her hand dismissively. "What Simon did or didn't do in high school is water under the bridge. Unless you plan on keeping in contact with him."

Mitch shook his head. "Scott doesn't like him."

"Your boyfriend is a wise, wise man." Suddenly, she smiled. "Once Hoying pulls his head out of his ass and actually proposes to you, jump at the chance."

Mitch blinked. She was really almost impossible to figure out. "I’m planning on it."

"Good," she said. "Not that I care."

Mitch had to laugh. "Obviously."

She picked up the few items she chose from the snack bar and have Mitch one last smile, this time fake and almost threatening. It made her look so much like her high school self Mitch took a step back.

She nodded at him as if she approved of this action. "Tell Hoying he's welcome for the bathrobe," she said, before she turned around and walked right off without a word of goodbye.

Mitch kept looking in that direction long after she disappeared in the crowd of people, trying to figure out what just happened. After a minute he sighed and shook his head. Exactly what he needed. One more thing on his mind. Why couldn't Taylor just be a bitch to him and spare him all the confusion?

He picked a few random items for Scott to eat and started off towards his friends, trying to get the conversation out of his head.

"I love you!" Scott all but yelled when he saw Mitch approaching with a handful of snacks.

"Who says I brought them for you?" Mitch teased, but didn't let Scott have any doubts before he dropped the food in his boyfriend's lap.

Scott smiled at him. "You wouldn't let me starve. I was wondering where you went, actually." He unwrapped one of the müsli bars and bit off almost half of it in one go. He handed out some of the other bars to the rest of the group, despite his previous claim on all the food.

"Yeah, I ended up by the snack tables. I ran into Taylor."

Scott stopped chewing. Kirstie and Kevin looked up at Mitch. Matt made a terrified face and whispered dramatically: "Oh no, not _Taylor_."

Mitch had to laugh. "Shut up, you don't even know her."

"But I do," Scott said. "What happened?"

"Actually," Mitch said slowly. "I'm not sure. It was almost... friendly. She was definitely bossy and blunt, but in her own special way, she acted civil. She talked crap about Simon, but that didn't really surprise me." He gave Scott an inquisitive look. "I'm also supposed to tell you, you're welcome for the bathrobe. Any idea what she meant?"

Scott looked completely mystified for a moment, but then his expression cleared. "Oh."

"What bathrobe?" Kirstie prompted.

"The pink bathrobe," Scott clarified, which was useless information to Kirstie, but Mitch suddenly understood. He remembered Scott calling him one day after school and begging him to bring him some pants, because apparently someone stole all his clothes when he was in the shower after practice and only left behind a pink bathrobe. At the time, they both assumed it was a tasteless joke from the basketball team.

"Why would she confess to that now?" Mitch asked. He frowned. It didn't seem like she was trying to poke fun at him when she mentioned the robe. "Unless..."

"Unless she didn't steal the clothes, but knew that someone did," Scott finished for him.

"What are you guys talking about?" Kirstie asked. "Someone stole your clothes?"

Mitch quickly filled her in.

"You know," Scott said after a while with an almost murderous glare in a certain direction. "I remember seeing Simon hanging out in the hallway. He seemed very concerned about the robe."

Kirstie frowned. "You think he stole your clothes and then waited around to see you run around the school naked?"

"No," Mitch said, feeling anger creeping into him. "Probably not that exactly. Simon could have ogled Scott in the showers. Maybe he wanted to be the savior who brings him clothes or some shit like that. But I bet you it was him who stole it in the first place. Taylor suggested that he was worse than we thought in high school."

All of a sudden, there was a clear memory in his head that must have been from the time capsule back when he was in high school. He remembered running into Simon and having a pretty bad confrontation with him until Taylor suddenly appeared out of nowhere and distracted Simon. At the time she wasn't very nice to Mitch, so he assumed it was an accident, but now he wondered whether she was actually trying to help.

"So she snuck in and left the pink bathrobe there to help Scott?" Kirstie asked, looking doubtful.

"The way she said it," Mitch replied, "I think she really was trying to help." Then he remembered another thing. "She might have also been the one who gave the clothes back to you. Simon lashed out at me once about stealing something from his locker and it was the same day you got your clothes back."

Kirstie shook her head. "How do you even remember that? Are you sure you're not just jumping to conclusions?"

"Maybe," Mitch admitted. "But I remember it was the same day, because when Simon yelled at me about it, he shoved me into a locker and I tore my shirt on something. I told Scott about it and asked if he maybe had an extra shirt and he said I was lucky because the clothes someone stole from him mysteriously appeared that day. I always wondered what Simon was on about that day, because that was one of the worst confrontations I ever had with him."

"Wait," Matt jumped into the conversation. "So, Taylor is not the devil?"

"Plot twist," Mitch said dryly. "Look, Taylor was never particularly nice to any of us, so I wouldn’t go as far as to call it a redemption arc, but if I ever write that biographical thriller, I might make her into one of those really cool villains, you kinda love at the end of the day.”

"For the record," Kevin said, laughing. "I hope you'll actually write that book someday. I'd love to read it."

Mitch shrugged. "If I retain some memories from this experience, I'll consider it."

They settled down into comfortable silence again after a while and Mitch finally had time to think about all that happened today. He was thankful that he wouldn't have to go through this again. A regular school reunion would be enough in the future, thank you very much. But he was relieved of certain burdens he didn't even know he carried and cleared out some mysteries he wondered about, even if, at this point, he mostly forgot about them.

"You know," Mitch told Scott in a low voice so the rest of the group wouldn't hear, "Taylor basically told me I would be stupid if you proposed to me and I said no."

Scott frowned. "Why are all of our classmates obsessed with us getting married?"

"That's what you took from that?" Mitch asked, amused.

Scott stared at him for a few seconds. "Is that your way of telling me you'd say yes, if I asked you?"

"I'm just saying Taylor might have made some valid points."

Scott laughed. "I really hope this doesn't mean that when I actually ask you, you'll say something like: 'Well, Taylor said I should say yes.'"

"No," Mitch replied, smiling. "I'm able to think for myself. I'll just say 'yes'."

_The End_


End file.
